Matter of Prime
by StSE
Summary: 09, Optimus must find his three young sons before Megatron does. Bumblebee follows - but can she find it within herself to accept what she is? Last book of the Matter trilogy. Promise Not to Tell spin-off
1. Chapter 1

****Matter of Prime****

****Sequel to Matter of Pride. Includes new '09 canons. **

**Third part of the 'Matter' trilogy****

Chromia glared at the black and white femme, not able to truly believe that the cocky yellow gladiator had actually taken HER as his MATE! Her digits curled up into tight fists as she realized the true ramifications of all this. The hidden Decepticon Prime was going through with his plans! He was winning – and the Autobot mechs didn't know a thing about it. The older femme didn't know if she should cry in sorrow, or scream in absolute rage!

"I know it's a lot for you to deal with all at once, but" Ironhide glanced from femme-to-femme. The three sisters were standing face plate to face plate with the femme who had been in hiding throughout the recent conflict, Bumblebee at her side – and neither side seemed to be willing to back down.

"You will deal with it. That is the rule of the femmes!" Lifting her olfactory sensor to the smaller femme, she glared down at her. "But then again, the rules of femmes mean little to a femme such as you – Chromia," Barricade snarled. Shifting her weight into a defensive stance, she made her intentions clear for all to see.

With a scream of absolute rage, Chromia leapt full force at the taller femme – but was stopped by a golden hand. She snarled as she kicked out at Sunstreaker.

"Sorry to interrupt your femme wrestling match 'Cade," Sunstreaker stated as he rather casually tossed the motorcycle across the road, "I'm just protecting my unborn sparkling." With that he boldly patted her abdominal armor, shooting the three sisters a look that promised he WOULD take them on at any time in order to continue protecting his future offspring. Femmes or not…..

Picking herself up, Chromia snarled at the mech. "You stay out of our quarrels. This is between FEMMES!"

Ignoring the looks that the other mechs were giving him, including a very bemused one plastered on his twin's face plate, Sunstreaker roughly pushed Barricade behind him. Spreading his legs into a good fighting stance, he signaled for the older femme to go ahead and take him on. "After what you attempted to do to newborn sparklings – you have no right to claim femme rights!" he growled back.

Her optics widened in total outrage, and she screamed 'liar' as she leapt at him….

Only to be caught by a pair of strong black arms. Her meta overcome by rage at the exposure of her deepest secret, she kicked and hit without regard to who was restraining her. Unfortunately for Ironhide – he was stuck trying to hold the wildcat until she calmed down, which was going to take a LONG time it appeared…

… Or not as long as they all thought… Realizing that she had to calm down and get the Autobot mechs to understand their true plight, the ornery femme amazed everyone by suddenly going silent and limp.

Ironhide shrugged in confusion as he set the small femme down on her peds, but Sunstreaker still kept himself between her and his mate. His optics warily watching her every move… She was up to something – he was sure of that!

"Do you want to tell them" Sun's optics narrowed as he glanced around the group "or should I?"

"Whatever she told you was a lie!" Chromia spat. Straightening up, she gave everyone a rather haughty glare. "But what else can you expect from Megatron's spawn?" Although she got the reaction from most of the gathered group that she expected – Sunstreaker's and Barricade's reaction caught her off guard.

Sun merely snickered "Yeah, and so what? I'm slaggin' the Decepticon-in-chief's daughter – who's so smart that he doesn't even know it!"

Barricade's smirk was even cockier than her mate's, if that was possible! She dared to give the older femme a wink. "Care to also inform them of my mother's identity?" she taunted. Her entire manner one of the utmost confidence and control…

This caused the old femme to sputter in total disbelief… She was unable to say the name..

"Who was your mother spark?" Optimus demanded to know. He was still in shock that he was now staring down at his niece spark. No wonder Barricade had always impressed him with her cunning…

Sunstreaker and Barricade exchanged a glance, both of them knowing that this information would truly shock the Autobot leader. "Your former bond mate," Barricade stated - her tone slightly softer than normal.

Optimus stepped back, his entire chassis visibly shaking. "No… no…." he shook his head, unable to believe such a thing.

"Ask Chromia to confirm. After all, she was there when Elita begged for my existence." The cruiser's optics were harsh as they bore into the older femme's.

Almost running forward, Optimus grabbed the older femme's shoulder armor. "Tell me it… isn't true!" he begged.

Chromia could do nothing but look away, her entire chassis filled with rage at Barricade. Rage that the femme had lived… Was now going to destroy her life… All of their lives! But her reaction did indeed confirm what Barricade said.

Optimus fell to his knee plates, barely in control now. His entire world crashing down around him… His dear Elita One… Precious Elita One… Had been a femme slave.. And he never knew it.. Never rescued her.. "Is she???" he sobbed.

"Affirmative. A mercy killing as she requested," Barricade answered. Her red optics actually soft as they met his for the briefest of moments, before returning to Chromia… "Elita was a strong femme – unlike YOU!" she snarled in contempt.

"Elita believed his lies!" Chromia spat. "Just like all of you believe her lies! He will take everything from us if we fall into his plans!" She twirled, fully intending to storm off.

Ratchet caught her this time. "What lies? Who's plans?" he demanded to know. Since Prime was overcome with emotional upset, it was up to him to maintain order. Up to him to get to the bottom of what both Chromia and Barricade were hinting at.

"If you name him, I will detonate," Barricade threatened as she leveled her optics at Chromia. It was no bluff either, they both knew it.

Chromia narrowed her optics, but clamped her mouth shut before she let it slip. "He's meta washed you femmes. You're fools to so willingly sacrifice yourselves to protect him."

"You're the fool Chromia, so blinded by your hatred of Decepticons and fear of mating," 'Cade shot back. "He works for our future as a species, no more – no less, which is better than you."

"What are you talking about? What does this mean Chromia?" Ironhide demanded to know. He grabbed Chromia's wrist, taking her from Ratchet.

Sunstreaker snorted and rolled his optics in exacerbation. "You'll never get a straight story out of two femmes." He glanced at Barricade, as if silently asking permission to tell what he knew. Getting the nod, he turned and met Ratchet's and Ironhide's expectant gazes. "Basic gist is that there's a Prime hidden in the con ranks, he mated Chromia against her will, she tried to offline the sparklings when she escaped because she was pissed – and when the two Prime lines come back together the Prime trine shall come to be."

…..A dropped pin could be heard for miles around as the news sunk in……

"Primus… I've done it.." Optimus sobbed as he fully sank to the ground. His meta just couldn't handle this type of emotional overload all at once, so he began to glitch… Just as he had done when Elita had been thought dead, the strong mech totally lost control.. His chassis began to overheat as tremors rocked through every sensory grid, knocking them out one-by-one… His optics glazed over as his meta fell within itself, memory echoes taking the place of reality for him…

"You – YOU MATED FRENZY?!? YOU FOOL!!! WE ARE ALL DOOMED!!!" Chromia screamed. Twisting out of Ironhide's grasp, she kicked Optimus as hard as she could. Then she transformed and zoomed out of sight, leaving a trail of burned rubber in her wake.

Ironhide swiftly went after her, followed by her two sisters.

Ratchet hit himself in the helm a few times, trying to make sure that he didn't glitch as well – too many mechs needed him right then. "Where is Frenzy now Sunstreaker?" he asked. The femme had to be nearing her time to birth.

"Don't worry, she's safe," Sun stated, he glanced at Barricade – hoping she had told him the truth.

"But she needs a medic. A birthing chamber!" Ratchet stated firmly.

"First Aid and Wheeljack are seeing to her needs," Barricade assured him.

Kneeling, Ratchet injected a strong sedative into one of Optimus's primary energon feed lines. The big mech clanged to the ground limply within seconds. He didn't have time to deal with Prime's emotional overload right now – he had to ensure that Frenzy and his own sparkling daughters were safe! He'd deal with Optimus later.

Standing up, he locked optics with the cruiser, giving her a glare that would shrivel most mechs. "If what you claim is true, a safe delivery is not the only thing Frenzy needs to be concerned about."

"Affirmative, she is guarded by the best you pathetic Autobots could offer at the time," Barricade replied with a rather smug smirk.

"Which would be?" the medic prodded.

"Prowl leads a security detail consisting of the Technobot gestalt," she replied.

Ratchet relaxed a little. At least his bond mate was there to raise his little daughters; he just hoped that Wheeljack didn't try to teach them anything about inventing. And nothing could get past Prowl when he had a good security team to command. But what about energon to feed the sparklings? "Do they have a good energon source?"

"Beachcomber is among them, he confirmed the natural energon source. There is an unlimited supply at their location."

"Unlimited natural energon? Where the hell is it Sun?" Sideswipe asked, his optics gleaming as he licked his lips.

"Have no clue," Sunstreaker said with a shrug.

"You were ordered to protect them and not to let them out of your sight! How can Frenzy be somewhere that you don't know?!?" Ratchet snarled. He really meant 'his daughters' – and everyone knew it.

"Kind've took an unexpected detour to Megatron's base. Couldn't be avoided," Sun replied, giving 'Cade a knowing glance.

"Couldn't be AVOIDED?!? THOSE ARE MY DAUGHTERS YOU LEFT!!" This time, Sideswipe had to grab the medic before he got his servos on the cocky golden mech.

"Hey, calm down mother hen. I got my aft captured protecting theirs – you owe me a big favor on that one!" Sunstreaker shot back.

"And just how are you standing here if that's the case? I don't see any damage," Ratchet taunted right back.

"Because my femme here – risked her own tail pipes and came after me. Heck of a double agent I tell ya!" With that, Sunstreaker grabbed Barricade's hand and dragged her away.

Bumblebee watched everything in silence, her own meta almost as emotionally overloaded as Optimus's. But she didn't let her emotions show. She was now totally alone again. Ironhide was off chasing his mate down – and Frenzy was off Primus-knows-where. Blinking back tears, she plopped her tail pipes down next to the still form of Prime. In the mental state he'd be in for the conceivable future, she doubted he'd even think about wanting to mate a femme… If he ever thought about it again - This was just fine by her…

-------

They sat down together on a ridge overlooking a vast expanse of the Rockies. Leader and femme, both suffering silently within… The mighty Autobot sighed as the mantel of responsibility lifted off his shoulder plates once more. This had now become the understanding between himself and his CMO these last few months. Optimus would hold himself emotionally together for eighteen hours each day – then Ratchet would take control of the Autobots so that he could fall within himself and grieve again. Every day, he was holding it together for a little longer. A second here – a minute there… But eventually it would come to this again, and his control would come crumbling down..

"I can't believe it Bumblebee," Optimus mumbled more to himself than to her. He'd been doing this every earth day for the last few months, so she'd learned to just kind've ignore it. He curled his arm around her and pulled her close, needing the warmth of an understanding mech to help him through this.

His touch no longer bothered her. She'd figured out after that first week that all the big mech needed was someone to hold. His meta was far away on other things, on other femmes. He was not interested in her. In fact, she was actually getting worried that her initial prediction that he'd never be interested in that stuff again – was coming true. But Ratchet didn't seem terribly worried. He was actually taking a lot longer to wean the mech off of the sedatives than he probably ought to.

Right now it wasn't bad to have Ratchet as their temporary leader for a part of each day cycle. The Decepticons were still off balanced and unorganized, so Optimus had plenty of time to recover. Chromia was also under Ratchet's supervision, for her mental state was swinging even more unpredictably than what Ironhide said was normal.

With a heavy sigh, Bumblebee leaned against her big friend and looked over the mountains. She let herself sink within her spark, seeking Frenzy through their spark bond. Through the fog, the image slowly focused, and she saw the world through Frenzy's optics once more….

"Do you see them little Bee?" Optimus's voice intruded into her thoughts.

Bumblebee nodded as she tightened her spark link. She watched the three small sparkling mechs as they chased after a mech she didn't recognize. Must be one of the Technobots – the one they seemed to play with far more than the others.

"Are they growing strong? Being played with?" he asked, longing filling his voice. He held his hands out, moving them as if he was playing with his sparklings. All he knew was emptiness now. He had failed Elita – and now was failing his sons through his absence in their lives. But Barricade wouldn't budge in her stance of not revealing their whereabouts. He did understand that they were safer without him. That Megatron couldn't find them any more than he could… But it hurt…Hurt every day.. It was tearing his spark in two…

"Yeah, they're seeing who can hang onto to a Technobot in motorcycle mode. It's a game they really seem to like to play." Her voice was wistful, for the sparklings and younglings seemed like so much fun as she looked through Frenzy's optics. She did like playing with youngsters even though she didn't want any of her own – and she did miss them terribly..

A sob escaped Optimus as he hung his head for a moment. "Are they happy? Do they look well-energized?" he whispered. He wished that he could see through her spark link. See what his sons looked like… Acted like… Without realizing it, he pulled the small femme into his lap and rocked her as if she was one of them. His meta becoming overwhelmed by the fog of his despair again.

"I miss Frenzy too, Prime," Bumblebee whispered as she felt herself relax against the grieving mech. "I want to be with her… Touch her.." Tears filled her optics as she shared in his angst.

"My sons…. My sons…" Tears flowed thickly down his face plate. His rocking increasing as he held her tightly against him, stroking her door wings as if he was soothing a sparkling.

"Prime, it's time for your next dose," Ratchet's voice said from behind them. His optics met Bumblebee's as he poked the needle into one of Optimus's energon lines, the big mech not even noticing.

"Little one, it's time to defrag… Shhhhhh, it's time to defrag…" Prime whispered as his optics slowly darkened. He slumped down to his side….

Ratchet helped Bumblebee extract herself from the big mech's arms. "Is he still mistaking you for one of his sparklings?" he asked.

Sadly, Bumblebee nodded.

The medic shook his head sadly and set a hand on one of her doorwings. "I know it's hard on you Bumblebee. But you're being a very good friend to him, telling him what you see through your spark link." He forced her to turn and look up at him. "How are YOU handling it?"

"I'm fine Ratchet," she replied. Instinctively, she tried to pull away from his grasp. He wasn't in the emotional state that Prime was in. He might want something more.

"Still afraid? I can give you something for that," the old medic offered.

Grinding her dental plates together, Bumblebee shook her head. She didn't need any sedatives; she just needed mechs to quit thinking of her as a femme – that's all.

"Bee, you're going to have to mate one day. You need to accept that."

Her spark began to pulse wildly in terror at the prospect. She fought the nausea down, fought to keep her composure. She had a plan now… She just hoped the mechs she was going to drag into it – would agree to it. Surely they would.

Ratchet took her silence as indicative of her continuing fear, kneeling down, he studied her face plate. "You are going to have to – just like we all have to."

Bumblebee's face plate heated up terribly. Looking away, she shifted her peds for a moment. Could she tell the lie? Could she make it sound believable? She had to… She just HAD to! "Well, it's just… uh… well…"

"Well what?" he pressed.

She flashed her optics up, meeting his optics for a split second before locking them back on the ground. "Uh, one of the mechs Frenzy is with… well…"

"Is what?" He studied the young femme with an intensity that made her want to bolt out of sight. What was going on with her? Was she actually interested in a mech? That would be GREAT!

"Well, he's, uh, cute, you, uh … know…" Ok, she'd half-way said it. How would Ratchet interpret it?

"You LIKE one of them? That's WONDERFUL!" Ratchet exclaimed. His stern face plate broke out into a big slag-eating smile. There'd finally been some kind of break through with the femme. "Who, if I may ask?"

Knowing Ratchet would be even more pleased if she named another medic as the focus of her supposed interest, Bumblebee muttered "First Aid" as if totally embarrassed.

Ratchet stood up and patted her on her door wing. "A very nice choice.. Nice choice indeed! He is a very talented young medic, if I may say so myself." He wandered off, still preening in pride that Bumblebee was showing interest in a medic that he had once trained…

Breathing out a sigh of relief, Bumblebee snuggled up against the still form of Optimus. She hated putting First Aid in this position without warning him, but surely the peaceful mech would understand. He was so in love with Beachcomber, she doubted he'd even want to mate with a femme anyways. Yes, he was the perfect mech for her to have a 'crush' on. It'd keep the others away from her…

----

Note: sorry it's taken so long. Hughes Net sucks big time! I even had to go to someone else's house to publish this! Please review though…


	2. Chapter 2

**Matter of Prime part 2**

_Just a brief reminder of what all has occurred in the preceding books: The AllSpark fragments can only spark drones now; Frenzy is in hiding and raising four drones and now five full femmes/mechs with the help of several Autobot mechs; there is a hidden Prime within the Decepticon ranks who protects the femmes; Sunstreaker and Barricade are now dedicated bond mates (*gasp* cough*cough*); and the Decepticons as a whole are still in disarray since the loss of Fallen…. Though that may be changing… _

… _Oh, and now it's been almost a year since Optimus's sons were born. I've decided that its time for the twenty-something Sam and Mikaela to also think 'kids'. Just seems to fit in with the flow of births and sparklings…_

_------_

A slight up curling of the lips, the slightest of chuckles rocked his green frame… His optics looking blankly into the rising sun as he experienced another's morning so far away….

Optimus frowned slightly as his despair tried to flow of from the pits of his meta. Fighting it down, he tried to make himself feel some sort of happiness for his old green friend. After all, Ratchet was also void from his growing daughters' lives. Unlike Prime though, he could live each moment… Each giggle… Each game… Each hug… Through the optics of his dear bond mate Wheeljack. He watched as the medic's optics beamed while he wiggled his digits at the air in front of him. Obviously Wheeljack was teasing one of the youngling's with an object tangled far above their helms and Ratchet was living it in real time as well….

With a sigh, the big mech sat down not far from the CMO. The loud clang of his frame as it settled down on the rocky surface echoed through the hills surrounding their temporary camp. Every bolt in him wanted to run to Frenzy's hidden location. Drive there as fast as his wheels could spin. Slide up to the entrance with his arms wide open. Feel the press of small frames against him as his sons leapt into his embrace.

But that couldn't happen. Not now. Barricade and Ratchet were adamant that the younglings were safer where they were. Their very existence hidden from Megatron's long sight…. They could have a true sparklinghood this way. Free from fear and violence… Something that sparklings hadn't experienced since long before Optimus himself had been sparked..

Bowing his helm, Optimus thought about the mystery Prime. He had the eerie sensation that without that mech hidden in Megatron's ranks – that his brother would've already caught wind of the coming Trine's existence. Would've already been chasing them down…. Who was this mech? His meta ran over all the known possibilities. Comparing them to the bits-and-pieces that Chromia had actually admitted to…

She had claimed that the mech could hold femmes in total thrall. That he had done this to Elita. Made her believe his lies; begged him to take Barricade as his own. That he had also tried to do this to Chromia herself. But she had claimed to have fooled him into believing she actually loved him. And in doing so had given herself a chance to escape… She even admitted to trying to do the unthinkable to the sparklings produced. There was still no sign of remorse in her about those actions though; she still truly believed that Frenzy and Rumble were nothing but some kind of demon spawn. Nothing but pawns in the game that this 'One' was playing… Pawns that had never deserved to live…

Settling himself down a bit more comfortably, Prime tried to come to terms with that type of hatred. He couldn't understand it though. Couldn't put himself in the same circumstances well enough. The only example he had – was his own brother, and he still didn't hate the mech. Even after what he now knew had been done to his own bond mate by those very hands. All he felt was a deep sadness for the fact that Megatron would never see life for what it was meant to be. That his brother would never know a single day of true happiness…

Shifting his thoughts a bit, Optimus focused in on Barricade. The more he thought about her actions towards Sunstreaker throughout the long war, the more he actually saw Elita. Barricade was as blindly fixated on a single mech as dear Elita had been towards him. Her intelligence, bravery, love…. They were all just like her mother's had been. 'Cade would willingly die so that Sun might live, just as Elita had almost done for him. Yes, he could see Elita shining through those fiery orbs. Her very spark living on through her strong daughter… A daughter that not even Megatron could kill off…

Once again, he sifted through all of his memories and thoughts. Comparing… Contrasting…. Contemplating every detail of the 'One' that he had gleaned from snide femme banter… The Decepticon Prime had to be intelligent, conniving, fearless, and very VERY high up in the ranks. Optimus felt he had him narrowed down to three possibilities: Skywarp, Soundwave or Hook.

Skywarp because he was cunning, their top saboteur, and one of the few Seekers that Megatron actually bragged on once in a while. He would be in the perfect position to swap out sparklings unnoticed. He'd also be able to conveniently hide younglings and train them to also be top spies. He was also highly attractive, and perhaps could be a smooth enough talker when he wanted to be – in order to fool a femme into some sort of thrall perhaps. Optimus wouldn't put it past a desperate femme – to be fooled in that way.

Soundwave because he was an enigma unto himself.. A rather silent soldier who stayed in the background, never taking credit for anything he did – or didn't do, as was the case of most Decepticons.. Not much was known about him other than in many ways he acted as Megatron's voice within the ranks. Decepticon soldiers feared him because of his position. He was essential to all Megatron's plans. Without him and the many animalistic mechs he commanded – the Decepticons might've disappeared into defeat long ago. Frankly, Optimus only put him on the list of possibilities simply because there was an uncomfirmed rumor that Soundwave could encroach on other mech's metas – and put them into a type of thrall while he extracted the required data.

And finally, Hook, because he was brilliant in intellect. He was also in the ultimate position to switch out sparklings and have femmes 'accidentally' die if they so requested. No one would suspect the sadistic perfectionist of having the capability of mercy. Until now, Optimus had never thought of the mech having a soft spark for a desperate femme, but perhaps he hid it THAT well? He would also be the only one who could hide femme sparklings so thoroughly and completely. After all, he was their CMO, and would HAVE to know who was a mech or femme – right? Prime doubted that Decepticons allowed younglings to run AWAY from their CMO, as Bumblebee had done with Ratchet for so long.

So there it was, he had three possibilities to consider. Three Decepticons that just might be a hidden Prime… Why had he chosen to remain hidden for so long? Why hadn't he just put a grenade in Megatron's and the Fallen's tail pipes and been done with the war altogether – he obviously has had many opportunities. Yet, according to Barricade, the One was totally dedicated to the Decepticon femmes and species recovery. Nothing more – nothing less… He did what he had to do on a cycle basis in order to maintain his cover. A cover that somehow helped him protect his true followers – the femmes.

"Anyone ever told you that you think too hard?" a female voice chimed, interrupting his contemplations.

Startled out of his thoughts, Optimus jerked a bit and looked down. As was his habit, he held out his hand to the woman. "In a way you are correct, but I must think – do I not?"

She giggled a bit as she struggled to sit in his offered hand. Her ever-increasing belly was getting in the way more-and-more, made everything so fucking awkward! "You've been reading too much Shakespeare. You sound like one of those obnoxious Broadway actor types."

Carefully raising his hand so that she was now at optic level, Optimus smiled as he noticed her expanding belly. In so many ways their species were similar – yet so different as well. Femmes also carried maturing sparks within their abdominal units – but they didn't expand like human femmes did. "The human commanders seem to enjoy these phrases – don't you?"

She rolled her eyes, "They're old farts – that's why they like those stupid sayings and stuff."

"I see."

Mikaela reclined a bit, setting some of her weight back on a hand. "You want another stupid saying for your collection? How 'bout 'a penny for your thoughts'? Sam's mom is always chasing me around with that one!"

"Penny for my thoughts? But I don't have a need for a copper monetary unit." He cocked his helm, giving her a rather bemused look.

This caused her to really giggle a bit. "You're impossible," she quipped with a wink.

"Ratchet informs me of that on a rather consistent basis." Prime was beginning to wonder where this conversation was leading. He did like talking with the young woman, but after ward he was usually left wondering just what was actually said. Out of the corner of his optic, he noticed Sunstreaker chasing after his new sparkling mech. The little one was streaking through the trees with a buffing rag flapping behind him. Once again, he'd either run off during his mandatory buffing session – or swiped one of his sire's favorite rags. Regardless of which it was, Sunstreaker would be in full pursuit for a while. Little Blurr could be as hard-to-catch as Sideswipe was sneaky…

"But seriously, what'cha thinking?"

"Currently, my thoughts are that Sunstreaker needs to make a quick swerve 45 degrees southwest and cut Blurr off at that large boulder on the ridge over there." His optics were still tracking the action. He wished with all of his spark that it was him chasing after a sparkling son…

Her eyes darted towards the action for a moment, but since it was the standard fare between Sunstreaker and his youngster – it didn't hold her attention for long. "That's not what I'm asking about. What were you thinking about before I interrupted?"

Tearing his optics from the sparkling play, Optimus met her eyes. His expression became very thoughtful as he recalled his speculations. "One," was all he said.

He didn't need to say any more, everyone knew whom that code name was for – the mystery Prime. "Still trying to figure out who he is?"

"Affirmative." He turned his optics back to the play.

"Why?"

"It is necessary that I know." He was purposefully being evasive about just WHY he needed to know.

"No you don't." She shifted her weight to her other hip, but that wasn't much more comfortable. It was times like these that pregnancy sucked the big one.

"Yes I do."

"Why?"

Alright, the human was pressing for something, and he was afraid he knew what it might be. "Because I'm the leader of the Autobots, that's why." End of question, well, at least for another Autobot it would've been. But Mikaela wasn't exactly a mech by any means.

"That's a piece of bull and you know it," she challenged.

"Why can't you accept my reason?"

"Because it ain't completely true, that's why." She shot him a smug smirk as she said that. "You're as bad as Sam – and he doesn't get away with it either."

Optimus rolled his optics in faked exacerbation. This human could be as persistent as Bluestreak! "You will have to accept that I'm telling you the truth then."

"Nope, cause you ain't."

Putting his other hand on his hip, he gave her an expectant look. "Ok, then why don't YOU inform ME of why I'm really contemplating on the One. Since I obviously haven't the slightest clue."

"Because of Elita, that's why." Mikaela's voice softened as she spoke the name. Struggling to her feet, she swayed slightly in his hand, her arms beckoning to him, which was a rather strange thing to do, considering how miniscule she was to the giant Transformer. Yet, it just seemed right. "It's ok to admit that you want – no NEED – to know everything that happened Prime. You loved her, and One was the mech with her when she died. It's ok to have questions."

Optimus's blue orbs filled with tears and he looked away and down. With the utmost care, he set her back down on the ground. "Thank you for your offer, but that's not something I care to discuss." Standing up, he strode away – before his tears belied his emotional scars…

The woman watched the big mech disappear into the woods. He was still so shut off from the world.. So shut down… How could she get him to talk?

-------

Pushing through the trees, Optimus allowed his tears to flow again. Only when he was alone or with Bumblebee did he allow this weakness to come forth. He was a leader.. A Prime… He could not be this weak! Everyone counted on him! A strange anger built within him. Anger at himself for being this way! But he couldn't change it. His emotions trapped him in their strength.. He couldn't escape..

A flash ran by him, causing his battle processor to spring into action. Slamming his hydraulics, the big mech stopped and spun, his optics scanning all around him. He knew he'd seen a flash of metal. He could feel another spark nearby. Drawing his weapon, he pointed it towards various regions around him. There was too much cover… Too many places for a con to hide…

He saw the flash again.. It was gone before he could draw a bead.. Again and again, he saw the flash.. But it was so fast… So fleeting… For a brief moment he considered calling for back up. He stopped himself against his better judgment. He was a Prime; it would take a unit of Decepticons to take him down. And that much racket would attract more than enough assistance as close as they were to the Autobots temporary camp.

"Come out, come out whoever you are, show yourself as friend or foe," he called out to the unseen mech. He waited for a moment, his gun cocked and ready. Nothing happened.

The waiting game continued for many minutes, the Autobot still on guard, the unseen mech simply watching from cover. It was Optimus who finally gave in. Lowering his weapon, he glanced around at the thick trees. "I'll put the gun away. Let us meet under peaceful terms then." He hoped that perhaps it was the mystery Prime. Perhaps the femmes' Prime had sought him out. After all, he was the sire of the mech's grandsparklings…

A slight rustle caught his attention. Not much more than the sound dry leaves made in a breeze on this organic world. Optimus didn't turn at first, but his audios fixed on the sounds that were coming closer. It was not a big mech coming closer, he decided. It was a small mech. Slowly he turned, meeting red orbs as he did so….

"Ravage" he stated in a low voice. The cat was one of Megatron's most fanatical followers. Had he been set up in a trap? He scanned around them, searching for other – Larger – mechs….

The cat showed its jagged teeth, in what a human might call a 'smirk'. Circling the big mech, it sized him up for a moment or two. Apparently satisfied of something, Ravage sat down and gave him an expectant look, as if waiting for a trap to be sprung.

"There is no danger," a voice explained from the woods.

Optimus looked up at the familiar voice, meeting Barricade's optics. "He was sent?" Even though the femme was helm-over-heels for Sunstreaker, and now most likely had a big price on her helm for being a traitor to the Decepticons, she still obtained information about her old faction's goings on. Obviously given to her by her true leader, One.

"Affirmative. SHE was sent," the cruiser replied with a nod of greeting to the cat.

"She?" The big mech stammered in surprise. His optics widened as he looked the silent cat up and down. Ravage was a 'she'? That meant she was under orders of One. His meta wanted to spin as he wondered just how many strange modes the Decepticon femmes used for hiding. Was Scorpinok one as well? Now that would be truly horrifying!

"Yes, one of the younglings," Barricade explained.

At that, the cat stood up and in a single bound had leapt onto the cruiser. Her entire chassis reverberated in a loud purr as she batted at her old comrade. They rolled for a moment, seeming to forget the mech in attendance for a moment.

Optimus's jaw hung slack in amazement as Barricade began to laugh as they played. In his experience with Frenzy and 'Cade, he'd only seen them snicker at someone else's misery or discomfort. To see the cruiser actually happily PLAYING with a youngster was optic-opening to say the least. In fact, he swore he could hear Elita's laughter flowing through the femme. He glanced up at the sky, silently thanking Primus that the One had taken the sparkling femme as his own. Had raised her to be so cunning, yet allowed her to keep so much of her mother spark…

With a final push, Barricade laughed as the cat landing lightly on her paws. "It is good to see you again Ravage. I've missed you."

The cat nodded her smooth helm in agreement. Her ears perked forward in a relaxed manner as she plopped back down on her hindquarters again.

"Are you joining with us?" Optimus asked. Taking his cue from 'Cade, he strode up to the feline and dared to stroke her helm; All the while trying to forget the memories of certain claws racking across his back side in past battles.

The cat actually snickered at that, which came out as a strange feline yowl. She shook her helm, but didn't resist his touch. In fact, she actually stood up and rubbed against his legs.

"She will not, until she reaches spark maturity. She is safer within the con ranks at this age," Barricade explained.

Sadly, Optimus nodded his head in understanding. It was actually safer for youngling femmes to work for Megatron in the guise of youngling mechs. He wouldn't look at them. He wouldn't target them, as he would if they worked for Autobots. It was the sad truth of their species. The sad reality in which they must be raised – they were all victims, all trapped within the web of hatred. "Sadly, I understand. So, you are here on an errand from One?" he asked.

Ravage nodded, sitting down again, she made it clear that she wished Optimus to do the same.

With a nod, Prime settled himself on the ground in front of her. Their helms now level; he could look directly into her optics. He saw intensity there. Saw intelligence and cunning…. "One has raised you well, send him my compliments."

The cat bared her fangs in a feline facsimile of a smile. She then reached into her subspace with a paw and pulled out a small box. Stretching her paw out, she made it quite clear that it was meant for him.

Taking the package, Optimus carefully opened the small metal box, safely tucked within it was a processor chip. Holding the tiny thing up in the sun light, he studied it.

"After you install it within your primary net, One will have a direct encrypted link with you – just as he does with all of the Decepticon femmes," Barricade explained.

"Hmmm," Prime studied the chip. He realized that it had the potential to also link into his motor networks as well. One could use this chip not only to spy on the Autobots, but to potentially destroy him as well. On the other hand, he would find out just who One was – perhaps even get secret warnings about Megatron's plans from the other Prime. There were both positives and negatives to be considered before he dared to install the thing within him. He might not ever be able to remove it…

Her courier mission now completed, Ravage stood up. With one final friendly rub against him, she bounded off into the woods. Her padded paws making no sound as she disappeared.

Optimus stared after her, knowing that there was no doubt he'd meet her in battle again. The cat would once again be in her youngling mech guise – and more than willing to try and shred as much of his armor as she could. Sadness filled him as he realized that this would be how it was – until he finally managed to destroy his own misguided brother.

"One is not highly concerned with the Decepticon-Autobot conflict?" he asked the cruiser. Sure, he'd heard her spout that fact off once, but he needed to be reassured of this fact. He studied the chip as he asked for that assurance; the small chip that could be the olive branch between the two Primes – or mean the destruction of one by the other.

A chuckle escaped 'Cade's lips as she heard the uncertainty in the big mech's voice. It was always interesting to compare Optimus to his brother. Megatron would never allow himself to exhibit such uncertainty – yet Prime had no problem showing this weakness. It was truly a fascinating difference between them. "Only as much as is required to maintain his cover. His oath is to protect us. To ensure that there's a future for our species. A future that includes the Prime lines."

By 'us', Optimus knew that she meant the femmes above all else. One was truly the femme's Prime and no one else's. Yet, Chromia hated him above all. And before he allowed One to have potential control over him – he must truly understand why a mech who claimed to be the protector of femmes – would have raped one of them. "Tell me the truth Barricade, did One rape Chromia? You were there. You were kept hidden within his quarters during that time. You saw."

'Cade walked by Prime and found a giant fallen tree to settle herself on. "She saw his weakness when he broke and provided Elita the escape she begged for. She saw his tears. Chromia decided to play a dangerous game with him then. But when she stole his spark – she didn't realize that mating would be demanded. Would be required to 'prove' her lies of love. By the time she realized that, it was too late. She couldn't back out of it and still maintain her guise of love."

"He cried after the mercy killing?" Optimus's voice was barely over a whisper. It cracked with emotion.

She nodded. "I saw the tears. Saw the conflict within him. The clear box I had been placed in, allowed me to see everything around me. I remember it all." Picking up a piece of deadfall, she threw it as hard as she could. It whizzed through the trees until it finally hit one dead on. "Elita told him she would forever love him from the afterlife for taking me as his daughter. That what he could never have during life, she would give him in death – for my sake." 'Cade paused, her optics clouding over as she searched her oldest memories. Then she returned to her story. "He was disturbed after that. Very deeply disturbed. Chromia seized on his weakness then. She understood that he wanted what YOU had once had…."

"A femme who loved me as mate," Optimus finished for her. He could more than understand the need. It went down to the very core of an Autobot mech. He hadn't thought that a Decepticon Prime would also feel that same need – yet wasn't One a mech just like him? So Elita had found this part of One. Found it and used it to protect her sparkling. Chromia had also found it, but she had used it selfishly. Instead of bringing the Prime out of the con ranks – she had been solely focused on saving her own tail pipes. The resulting sparklings meant nothing to her other than reminders of her own disgrace, her own betrayal. That's why she tried to destroy them, and still couldn't accept the surviving one as deserving of life. "Thank you 'Cade, you have shed new light on One's motives."

Sensing that she'd just been dismissed from his presence, the cruiser nodded and hopped off the giant log. Her peds hitting the soft forest ground with barely a whisper of sound. As she went by the big mech, she felt digits encircle her arm. In a smooth motion, she found herself pulled tightly against the Autobot leader.

"I know you think of One as your sire – will you allow me to also love you as the daughter I should've had with my bond mate?" Optimus whispered. He prayed that she would. That he could feel that connection with her. She would've been of his spark had he and Elita decided to have sparklings. She would've been his.

Understanding why the big mech would ask that… Why he would need that connection with her… 'Cade nodded and whispered 'affirmative' to his question… She felt him tremble slightly as his arms tightened around her, felt his spark field surround her. They were now linked as adopted family. Her sparkling was now his grandsparkling…

Optimus felt his spark healing inside as he held his adopted daughter. He felt a connection to Elita through her. Silently, he vowed to never let her down as he had her mother. Never to allow her to feel the pain that Elita had.

In his hand, the processor chip waited. The other Prime waiting patiently for him to accept his offered connection…. What ever and where ever that might lead …..

------

Hiding back behind the giant boulder, Bumblebee trembled as emotions raced through her. Her big 'safety blanket' was no longer safe. She could no longer avoid the comments by claiming that she was focused on helping Optimus through his depression. And Optimus wasn't safe anymore. His meta would start thinking on the future again…

Tears of despair began to drip down her face plate. Wrapping her arms around her chassis, she rocked slightly as she pined for her femme mate. If Frenzy was here, no mech would want to mate her and none of the Autobot femmes would dare to make their snide little remarks! All of them would be busy trying to avoid the freaky femme at all costs. This was just fine by Bumblebee. She loved the femme because of that very freakiness. She loved the femme for her jealousy… She loved the femme because she wouldn't share what she considered hers…

True, Bumblebee had been part of those threesomes with Ironhide. She'd even learned quite a bit about mech-femme relations. But she'd still not allowed the black mech to really touch her in that manner. No, she'd conveniently kept herself occupied with various pleasures involving Frenzy. At least she'd gotten over her nausea in seeing mech-femme interface though… That was a bit of an improvement…

During this earth year of separation from Frenzy, Bumblebee had decided on something. She'd actually learned of it while watching human TV shows with her best friends, Sam and Mikaela. There was this thing that humans called 'being gay'. It simply meant that a human preferred to mate within their sex. Now this had been a somewhat unknown thing amongst the mechs. Sure, mechs played around with mechs and femmes played around with femmes – but that was considered a somewhat natural state of being. They'd always play around with the opposite sex as well.

Except Bumblebee that is. As she sat and pined away for her femme bond mate – she decided that she was completely gay. She wanted nothing to do with mechs and getting pregnant. Wanted nothing at all to do with that! All she wanted was to feel Frenzy's lip components on hers. Feel that beautiful femme spark pulsing in synch with hers. Yes, she was certain now that she was 100% lesbian. That human word described her to the tee!

She didn't care how many times her mate shared her spark with mechs. Frenzy's sparklings were also her sparklings. In fact, through their spark link Bumblebee was now also certain of another thing: Frenzy craved the feeling of being pregnant. It was as much a part of her – as being gay was a part of Bumblebee. Maybe it was because the freaky femme had somehow always sensed that her own mother spark hated her? Now that Chromia had been found – Frenzy now knew that as a fact because of her link with Bumblebee. Her need to feel life growing within her somehow filled that void. That lack of connection and love with the very femme who'd sparked her….

Bumblebee didn't care to go deep into her reasons. She was just happy to volunteer to be the 'youngling' who handled the sparklings for that first earth week. She was useful to the species then. Useful WITHOUT birthing sparklings of her own! No, she never ever EVER wanted to do that!

She hated those snide comments though. Chromia was the worst about making them. The old femme would always shoot those degrading glances her way. It was as if Bumblebee was somehow less than a femme because she craved the embrace of only femmes. And when Chromia had proudly announced that she was pregnant with Ironhide's sparkling – the snotty look she'd shot her way had made the young femme want to transform and drive to Frenzy as fast as her wheels could spin!

All of the sisters were either now bond mates with mechs – or being heavily courted. They pranced around as if it was some kind of badge of honor. Their olfactory sensors raised high everytime they were near Bumblebee. They all knew who her femme mate was. And they all despised her for this. As one, the sister trine supported Chromia's stance that Frenzy didn't deserve to live. That the mechs, and especially Optimus, were being led by their transfers into their own destruction!

They were now all either pregnant – or working on it. It seemed like they felt somehow in competition with the two Decepticon femmes in that manner. Barricade didn't make things any easier in the social discord of the Autobots. In her own way, she was just as hard to get along with as Frenzy was. She acted more like a mech than a femme in so many ways. And she proudly dragged Sunstreaker around like a piece of pretty arm candy. As far as she was concerned, she'd trapped the best prize – and all the Autobot femmes could simply kiss her tail pipes. It wouldn't surprise Bumblebee in the least, if Barricade got pregnant again soon, just to one-up the sister trine in the sparkling department.

All these femme social antics made Bumblebee's meta hurt and her core totally nauseated. She actually missed the life she led before femmes came out of hiding. She'd just been a youngling mech. No one bothered her; no one made snide remarks about trying out a transfer instead of a receiver. Yes, she had always been sent out on scouting missions that could have accurately described as suicide missions – but she'd loved the thrill of it. She'd loved the action. And most of all, she'd loved the fact that NO ONE thought or talked about mating!

Sinking within her spark, she found the link to her femme mate. Shuttering her optics, she looked through the fog of the distance between them – feeling what Frenzy was currently feeling… Seeing what Frenzy was seeing… In fact, being Frenzy and not herself for a while….

…_She felt the warmth of love roll through her sensory nets as the little sparkling jumped onto her back armor. His triumphant giggle echoing from the glowing crystals that lined the walls. Flipping over in a blur of servos, her long digits grabbed hold of his silver chassis. "Who's got who now, he, he, he?" she snickered as she trapped him._

_Little Magnus's blue optics opened wide in surprise at her sudden move. Trying to wiggle out of her grasp, he realized quickly that it was a pointless effort, so he went limp. "You mommy," he agreed in defeat. _

_Still chuckling under her breath, she let him go as she spun back to her peds, just as a mech's calm voice intruded upon their playful antics. "What lesson did you learn Ultra Magnus?"_

_They both turned to look at the speaker. He was leaned up against the side of the entrance, his arms crossed in a relaxed manner. The slight up curl of his lip components the only outward indication that he had enjoyed watching them. He was always watching the young primes. Always encouraging them to think about lessons learned through play…. In a sense, Prowl was their father-figure…_

_Hopping up, the little sparkling ran up to the stoic mech and leapt into his arms without a single thought as to how silly it might look. He idolized the cruiser. Every servo in him wanted to be just like him. He wanted to be strong, confident, the 'perfect' soldier – just like Prowl. "Uh, that I should've, um, known mom'd do that move?" he replied in a hesitant tone. _

"_Exactly. Haven't you seen her perform that very move on Hot Rod?" Prowl smiled down at the little mech, his stern face plate breaking into warmth. Though he was good with all of the young primes, this one was obviously his favorite. _

_The youngster's face plate hardened into one of intense thought. Unlike his two brothers, he was the deep thinker. He was the calmest, and liked to have a plan for everything. He also had much more empathy for other's emotions. In a sense, he was the most 'Optimus-like' of the three in many regards. "Yes sir, I should've anticipated it." His optics looked up imploringly at the officer, hoping that Prowl would be proud of him for thinking that way._

_With a nod of approval, Prowl set him down and patted the top of his helm. "Very good Magnus, you're going to make a very good commander one cycle."_

_Before he turned to do his rounds, Prowl's optics met Frenzy's. The femme felt a strange sensation of longing again. Longing to feel life grow within her yet again… To drive the empty ache away for a brief time… An ache caused by the traitorous bastard she had called her first mech bond mate and the whore that was her mother spark.. She saw a similar longing in Prowl's blue optics every time he met hers. And even without Bumblebee's spark to tell her why – she knew…_

_Prowl couldn't help but be reminded of the loss of Jazz when he looked at her. She WAS Jazz now – in a strange sense. She had his chassis, had the knowledge recorded in his memory banks as her own… She was truly Frenzy-Jazz, not just Frenzy.._

… _And she longed to have a mech connection again. The longing was becoming more-and-more intense with each passing day cycle. True, Prowl was a rather boring and predictably 'heroic' mech – just like that dolt Optimus. Unlike Optimus though, Frenzy KNEW that Prowl could be brought out of his prim and proper shell of behavior. She had the memories of Jazz to prove that._

_Frenzy's optics followed Prowl as he walked away, sparkling happily following along. They narrowed a bit as she considered if she really wanted a mech mate again. But it wasn't exactly 'want' it was 'need' – now wasn't it? She didn't have Bumblebee to fill that void right now._

_That flash of memory caused her to forget about her musings over Prowl. Now she felt the ache of loneliness as the vision of HER yellow femme filled her processor…….._

…. Bumblebee's shutters flew open as she came back into her own reality. Shaking her helm slightly, she realized that both Optimus and Barricade were no where to be seen. She must've been sitting there for quite some time. Dragging herself to her peds, she felt a corresponding ache of loneliness to Frenzy's…

But she couldn't track her location down through their spark link. That would give Frenzy and the sparklings away to the Decepticons! So, just like Ratchet had to live without his bond mate Wheeljack – she and Frenzy had to continue on apart.. At least Frenzy had the sparklings and maybe Prowl to fill HER void.

- Bumblebee had no one except her two human friends to fill hers. And those two were getting more-and-more wrapped up into each other. All she was – was the third wheel who drove them wherever they wanted to go…..

----

_Note: Hughes Net still blows. Sucks when you have to go to a library to post shit! Hope you enjoyed it all. I can still read the reviews in my yahoo box from work. Keeps me going…._


	3. Chapter 3

**Matter of Prime part 3**

_A little change of pace for a moment… It kept intruding upon the main story within my demented mind…_

_----_

"Did you HAVE to go to THAT human business?" Prowl asked as he looked the youngling drones up and down – then back up again. The frown deepening on his face plate made plain his displeasure with the entire situation they now found themselves in. A situation that was fully Wheeljack's making…

The inventor grinned and gave him a shrug. He obviously didn't see the seriousness in their current predicament – nor care for that matter. "Well, they've always loved playing there at night. Seemed like the perfect place."

Crossing his arms, the tactician rolled his optics. Wheeljack tested his patience almost as much as Sideswipe used to. Did the mech not have a single screw of common sense?!? "You should've at least ordered them to scan normal alt modes." He'd been watching enough human television shows this last year to know that what the drones had scanned were most definitely NOT standard vehicles!

"We like these!" One of the sparklings blurted out. He hopped from ped to ped, his helm bobbing like one of those obnoxious bobble heads that the humans were constantly trying to hock on infomercials.

"Yeah, these alt modes cool!" Another added. In fact, he hadn't transformed out of his new alt mode since he had scanned it. Spinning around, he tried his best to look at himself just to make sure. Never did figure out how to tell when he'd transformed or not. This 'maturing' thing sure was a pain to understand!

"Why Prowl not like alt modes?" This one looked up at Prowl with pleading optics as he flapped his new wings.

At least he had scanned something somewhat useful, Prowl thought; he can at least fly now. Well, if the dumb drone was capable of learning to fly. Sometimes Prowl could understand why Decepticons called them cannon-fodder and never bothered to name them. Autobots weren't quite that callous – these drones not only had names, but Optimus's smallest son was just smitten with them.

"Prowl never like us stupid! He tail pipes stink!" The fourth one shot back. In a blur of motion, he'd reached out and smacked the flyer in his helm.

"He does like you, he just doesn't show it. Right?" Pathfinder's blue optics looked up at Prowl as she grabbed his hand and tugged on it.

At least she and her twin had chosen 'normal' alt modes for this world, Prowl thought. They'd make it easier to stay out of sight. And they were both a bit more intelligent - thank Primus! "Just make sure that you keep the common sense that Ratchet provided you," he told her with a slight smile. The now-youngling could always make him smile. One day… When she was of age, she would drive Ratchet to glitches with the young mechs pursuing her.

"Are you implying that I don't have common sense?" Wheeljack challenged.

"He, he, he, that's exactly what he's saying. But a he, he, he dumb set-of-tail-pipes like you is too freaking dense to realize it." Frenzy shot him a big smirk, her optics full of mischief. She walked around the six younglings, studying their new alt modes.

"You made sure to leave while Frenzy was defragging didn't you?" Prowl stated more than asked the inventor. It wasn't against the rules to slide out with the sparklings during the night. They needed to learn how to move around unnoticed. But all of them had known how close the first set of sparklings were to first molt and alt. They had all been trying to keep them near 'normal' alt modes just in case they needed to scan. Well, except for Wheeljack that is. He'd taken them to that human business called "Jurassic Park" – and now they would have to deal with the consequences.

"He, he, he you bet he did!" Frenzy-Jazz smacked Wheeljack upside his helm. "Because I wouldn't have bent to the he, he, he will of sparklings. No matter how much they he, he, he, begged to go!"

The femme was still obnoxious, but at least they were in total agreement on this one. Prowl shot her a look of approval, for she would have no problems saying everything HE was really thinking. He REALLY wanted to smack Wheeljack upside the helm over this one – more than a few times. So, he wasn't about to stop her as she did it for him. "Well, let's figure out what to do with you drones."

"Me Grimlock LIKE my alt mode. Me not change! No not change!" the bigger drone muttered. Transforming, he crossed his tiny arms and engaged in a full pout, which was hysterical with those daggers for dental plates. Instead, he looked more like he was growling – then pouting. Cuteness had never been one of his strong points…

"Slag say yeah, me not change either!" the smaller one also transformed, swishing his tail around in agitation. He accidentally whacked Grimlock's leg units with it, and gave the bigger youngling drone an apologetic glance.

Swoop looked from one to the other. Flapping his wings, he hopped up onto Slag's back armor. "Swoop say 'no' too!"

Snarl also glanced from one to the other, but when Frenzy walked over and smacked Grimlock upside the helm, he backed up a bit. Frenzy was basically a mother figure to all of them. Usually she was fun and came up with cool games that she called 'training'. But when she was mad – everyone fled! And now she was mad at Grimlock and Wheeljack. "Grrrrrr, Snarl sorry Frenzy. Me thought it was cooooooool."

"Snarl traitor!" Grimlock sputtered as he ducked his head and tried to protect it from further smacks. Awkward in this new alt mode that he wasn't accustomed too – he tried to run from the femme.

Slag spun, ready to follow his buddy, which caused Swoop to lose his footing; the flyer fell to the floor right in front of Grimlock's peds. This caused Grimlock to stumble and fall on top of him, Slag right behind him. They ended up in a tangle of limbs and wings, not a single one even thinking about transforming back to the mode they were used to so that they could get untangled.

Frenzy shrieked in hysterical laughter at their plight. The drones were so freagin' stupid! Grabbing onto Prowl's shoulder, she leaned on him for support as her chassis was raked with spasms of uncontrollable laughter.

Prowl was left wondering just what in the hell he was supposed to do with four dumb drones that looked like those animated dinosaurs from the local kiddie amusement park. They'd stand out like a sore digit when it was time for this small unit to move out of hiding. Opening his mouth to speak, he was stopped as a thrilled scream filled the caverns…

Little HotRod came running up as fast as his peds could carry him. His optics opened wide in disbelief as he saw his youngling buddies in their new alt modes. "Cool! Wow!" he yelled as he leapt onto the tangled pile.

"He, he, he, even Optimus sired a dumb one!" Frenzy-Jag snickered into his audio.

He might've been inclined to agree with her at that moment, for the little sparkling was busily expounding on just how neat it was that the older younglings had chosen those alt modes. He'd have to make sure that when it was time for the Trine to molt and take their first alt modes – that either Frenzy or himself was always with them. He didn't want to risk HotRod taking on some weird alt mode – and having to explain to an angry sire just how the youngling had been allowed to take it….

--------

"Do you need to talk?" Prowl asked. He leaned on the crystal encrusted wall and watched the femme as she stalked back and forth. He knew why she was pissed off. It'd been brewing ever since she'd learned the truth. And to be honest, he couldn't blame her.

Not pausing in her back-and-forth pacing, Frenzy snorted. "Frag you, frag all of you! He, he, he, you're all pieces of slag!"

Not sure if he should do this, yet feeling as if he should, Prowl grabbed her arm as she stalked by. "Need I remind you that I have nothing to do with this situation?"

Brushing him away, Frenzy glared at him - Her blue optics narrowing behind the visor of her chassis' former owner. "But you would stand by him! The traitor! The freagin' piece-of-slag traitors!"

Grabbing her again, Prowl tightened his grip this time. One thing he was sure of was that he and Jazz were equal in strength. And since Frenzy was in Jazz's chassis – he was more than her equal as well. "These emotions will not help us now Frenzy. You must calm down!"

Trying to pull away, she snarled at him. "THAT's what I've been doing this last earth year! Or are your optics so dull that you haven't noticed?? But he's…. Their…. She…."

"Their expecting a sparkling – aren't they?" Prowl could see it written all over her face plate. The bitterness, anger, disbelief, loneliness, hurt… He could see it plainly written… And he couldn't blame her one bit..

Jerking away from him, she went to a wall free of crystal and smashed her fist into it so hard that energon began to spurt forth. "The freagers!"

Prowl watched her as she smashed her own fist into a energon coated mess. He understood her anger. She had every right to be. First, Chromia had tried to off line her the instant she was sparked; then she'd showed back up and claimed Ironhide back; now the pair was pregnant… Frenzy had nothing now. Nothing but her sparklings and the femme bond mate she couldn't join…

Yes, she was a rather freaky femme. But no one deserved the life she'd had – no one! Prowl felt his spark soften for her. She deserved – no, she NEEDED – some mech to show her that he would stand by her as a friend. And right now, he was the only one who empathized with her. Swallowing hard, he made up his meta. He'd stand by her. He'd be the friend she could count on. She deserved that – for what she was doing for the species as a whole! "I'll kick his tail pipes when we rejoin them," he promised as he grabbed Frenzy's smashed hand and spun her around.

"You'll what?!?" She blinked in surprise at the stoic mech offering something like that. Not that she needed a mech to kick Ironhide's tailpipes for her. But it would make it easier for her than kicking both his and Chromia's.

"I said that I'll kick his tail pipes through his dental plates. The old bastard deserves an aft whooping." Prowl knew that Optimus wouldn't be happy about his offer, but Ironhide did deserve it. This young femme had given so much of herself to the Autobots. She had willingly mated with two of them already. And all her hopes for a normal relationship had been based on Ironhide's promise of love. Now that was dashed to the curb. All for an old bitch who tried to murder sparklings! The least he deserved was a good solid aft whooping…

"You'll kick his tail pipes – for me?" All her anger drained out of her, replaced by honest surprise.

"I assume that you'll be too busy kicking Chromia's tail pipes – so the least I could do to pay you back for everything you've done for us Autobots – is to kick his for you," Prowl explained in a totally calm and cool voice. It made logical sense to keep a femme that was willing to mate with multiple mechs for the sake of the species – happy and feeling valued. Who really cared what an old selfish femme like Chromia thought?

She put her other hand on his shoulder plate, her meta running in overdrive. "You give me your word as a mech?" she asked, her optics searching his. She'd taken a mech's oath once and he'd broken it – but she did trust Prowl to keep his word. He was predictable and never offered what he couldn't give.

He matched her, his hand gripping her shoulder armor. He tried to ignore the familiar feel of the silvery metal under his digits. Ignore the fact that he looked into optics that once belonged to his bond mate Jazz…. "Yes, as long as you give me your oath that you won't offline her."

"She deserves it!"

"But she's a femme."

"She lost that benefit when she tried to off line me!" Her digits dug into his armor. Her optics beginning to burn in renewed rage…

"But wouldn't the look in her optics as she watches YOUR sparklings rise to glory – be a more satisfying revenge? Sparklings that she tried to keep from coming to existence? She will live in shame the rest of her cycles," he whispered in a conspiratorial tone. "Shame – everytime you walk by."

Frenzy's optics narrowed as her meta went over the idea. It was a sweet thought! She could taunt the old femme every day cycle by just living and succeeding… "He, he, he, yeeeeeeesssss…" Abruptly, she kissed the serious mech, "You might've made a decent Decepticon Prowl," she snickered.

Caught completely off guard by the unexpected kiss, Prowl numbly nodded his agreement. He could tell by her tone that he'd managed to diffuse her again. "So, we will discuss some plans for the aft whooping as we wait?"

Snickering gleefully, the femme nodded as she pulled her co-conspirator closer to her. A thought crossed her meta. The thought that they needed to wait until the trine sparklings were younglings before they came out of hiding. And she had plenty of time to generate another set of sparklings during the wait. Obviously Ironhide was no longer on her 'mate' list – but perhaps Prowl would fill his peds? He was the better of the two anyways. Make for some very sneaky and intelligent sparklings. "Perhaps discuss some other he, he, he, arrangements as well," she whispered back. Her spark longed for the feel of life growing within her again. That's what made her feel whole now… Her sparklings were the only ones she could count on to stand by her.. To love her…

"What do you mean?" The tactician was a little taken aback by her forwardness. Not that he minded being held close by the chassis of his former bond mate. Longing filled his spark, longing to feel Jazz's pulsing with it. His engine heated up, a hum filling the small enclave.

"My spark is strong again," she whispered, her optics gleaming as she pointedly scanned his chassis. He was of similar size to her, not as impressive as either of her former 'contracts' – but he was much better looking. Well, IF a femme was into looks that is… Frenzy wasn't as interested in that – as she was in ensuring that her sparklings would be strong, sharp-witted survivors…

He backed up in surprise. Maybe he shouldn't have been? He knew she wasn't averse to making arrangements for breeding rights with different mechs. He just hadn't thought she'd be so quick to get over her interest in Ironhide. She pressed against him until his door wings smacked against the wall. "I… I'm … uh…. Complimented … that you'd.. consider me.. but shouldn't we.. discuss arrangements first?"

"He, he, he, arrangements? Like what position you'd prefer? He, he, he, handcuffs or whips? He, he, he…." Her optics glittered in amusement…

She sounded eerily like Jazz at that moment. Jazz had always been into 'creative and exciting' ways of interfacing. And to have a femme in his chassis spouting off some of the same ideas…. Prowl couldn't help it, his engine revved in excitement. "No, um, like what you expect in return for carrying my sparkling?" his meta wanted to turn into mush at that very moment. He had to try to think clearly at that moment – he didn't want to be shocked by demands later on…

Pulling back slightly, she studied him. This mech was smart and cunning; he wasn't allowing himself to be overcome by lust like the others did. Though his motor's reaction to her made his interest VERY clear… "Stuff Ironhide's helm up his tail pipes the next time we meet – and we're even."

She ground her pelvic armor seductively against his as she spoke, sending waves of blistering sensation racing through him. "Deal. But Frenzy?"

Nipping his exposed throat servos, Frenzy ran her digits along his door wings. This mech was indeed a beautifully put together specimen. She was going to enjoy every moment of this mating. And didn't even have to electrocute him in order to force mate! There were advantages in taking his deceased bond mate's chassis as her own. He was actually physically attracted to her – unlike Optimus or Ratchet. "Yes? Mmmmm, tasty servos.."

He trembled as his neck servos were given her full attention. Primus this was so much like being with Jazz again! Did she still have his memory files – or had she erased them? Part of him hoped she no longer had access to those most personal of memories – but the other half wanted her to have them. To have her be willing to relive a few of them… "Can we dance first?" How Jazz would've roared in laughter hearing him ask that. It had always been Jazz forcing HIM to dance – not the other way around. But if he was going to mate a femme in Jazz's chassis it just seemed right to give his former mate some kind of tribute he would have appreciated.

"He, he, he, dance? You don't seem the he, he, he dancing type," Frenzy snickered.

Pushing her back a little, Prowl nodded in agreement. "True, but I feel like dancing as a warm up for our coming activities. To get us in the 'mood' for a long session." In fact, he was really stalling. He wasn't used to just jumping in the berth with a new partner. Jazz had had to pursue him for almost a full orbit cycle before he'd 'caught' him. And well….

Ok, it didn't sound nearly as fun as electrocuting and chaining up a mech as a warm up – but Frenzy was always game to try something new. So she turned on her sound system and accepted Prowl's hand……

-----

"What's your problem!?" Frenzy demanded to know as she ran her digits along his hood. She'd been trying to get the mech to extend his transfer, and he just kept locking up.

Prowl's face plate heated up as he looked away in shame. He just couldn't… Just couldn't… Memory echoes of Jazz kept ruining the mood for him…

Searching the memory files that Jazz had conveniently left for her, Frenzy's optics burned as she realized that the mech under her digits had done this same thing to his former bond mate early on in their relationship. It was a pattern then. The freager had to be 'in love' before he'd interface or mate… And just like Jazz – it frustrated her.. "Ugh!" she snorted as she rolled off of him and rolled her optics. "He, he, he, anyone ever tell you that you're too fucking he, he, he, uptight?"

"Yes, I seem to recall that exact phrase used once or twice," Prowl muttered. His spark sunk. He was a pathetic mech! Couldn't even get it activated with a willing femme in his bond mate's old chassis!

Going through Jazz's memory files in the blink of an optic, Frenzy learned how their early relationship had progressed. Learned how the overly-serious mech could be woo-ed. After Jazz had 'caught' him, Prowl had been the loyalist of bond mates. His optics never strayed – not even for a quick look.

She glanced over at the door wings of the glum mech. She couldn't HAVE a dedicated bond mate like that right now. She'd tried it once and the bastard had gone and betrayed her at the first chance! She just – couldn't…. But Prowl had been totally committed to Jazz. TOTALLY COMMITTED! He'd remained loyal through everything. And many mechs had gone after the good-looking tactician…

Frenzy didn't want to admit it, but she was craving that type of loyalty. She needed to fill the void left by her mother spark's scorn. But could she bear to give her full trust again? Could she survive another potential betrayal? Yet, Prowl had never betrayed Jazz…. His record was perfect in that department.

"Ok, you, he, he, he, fucking win," she sighed in what sounded like a tone of resignation. She rolled over and poked Prowl's back armor.

Surprised at her change of tone, the mech rolled over and met her optics. "What do you mean?"

"I'll do it."

"Do what?" He was perplexed now. Frenzy'd never spoken in this serious tone.

"I'll date you first. You he, he, he, happy now?"

His perplexed face plate now got an expression of honest surprise as he bolted upright. "What are you talking about?!?"

Frenzy snickered as she stretched and put her hands under the back of her helm. "You demand woo-ing. So I'm gonna he, he, he, woo you." She rolled her optics as if totally put-upon by this effort. "You'd better be that good. A femme – woo-ing a mech… He, he, he, you know how back-aft that is?"

His mouth was now hanging open in total shock. With a big gulp, he slammed it shut. The last time he'd heard the term 'woo' was when Jazz had pursued him. The femme had obviously dredged up those memory files. "Why, uh, would you bother? There's other mechs who'd have no problem mating with out a relationship," he stammered. And Prowl NE VER stammered!

She shrugged and gave him a smirk. "Maybe I want a mech, he, he, he, as loyal to me as he was to Jazz?"

"I thought you weren't into that – after Ironhide?" Prowl's chassis felt hot. His sensory nets burned with anxiety.

With a snicker, Frenzy-Jazz leapt to her peds. She patted the top of his helm as she walked by. "He, he, he, maybe I've changed my meta." She paused as she got to the small alcove's entrance and glanced back at him. "This woo-ing is going to be, he, he, he – fun. Isn't it?" she quipped with a wink. Turning, she disappeared into the depths of the cave system.

Primus, she sounded just like Jazz when she said that! Prowl's meta reeled in disbelief. He'd found a femme version of Jazz – with Jazz's memories. He didn't stand a chance!

-------

_Several months later…_

_------_

Feeling digits curl around his, Prowl glanced at the femme who'd moved to stand next to him. Her silver armor gleamed in the moonlight cast down upon this planet, and for just a moment he saw Jazz and not her. "They grow strong," she whispered, her optics focused on watching the sparklings and younglings play in the darkness. They were her pride… Her focus… Her sole reason for life..

He nodded, his spark still pulsing in remembered love for the chassis next to him. The femme had been pursuing – ahem, dating him – for several Earth months now. And the longer it went on, the more he couldn't help but think of her as 'Frenzy-Jazz' not just Frenzy. Those little surprises she left for him; some entertaining – some not-so-entertaining… They were so like the goofy inane things that Jazz had once thought he'd like. Prowl couldn't help himself, he was honestly starting to fall for the femme. Once again, some one so completely opposite in temperament to himself that it wasn't exactly logical. Yet logic never seemed to dictate whom the stoic mech found himself attracted to – had it?

It was times like this though, when the femme's meta was completely taken up with her offspring – that Prowl found her almost irresistible. She was so dedicated to ensuring the full development of their potential that he knew without a doubt that she'd willingly die for them – despite the femme rule of self preservation. He saw this extreme loyalty; most would call it love, as her most desirable trait. Something that would make him look past her failings, her temper, her slight insanity – and see her core values and worth.

In that – she was fully the opposite of her mother spark….

Glancing around them, he noted with satisfaction that the Technobot gestalt had spread out and assumed the perfect tactical circle around the playing younglings, yet still giving the youngsters plenty of room and freedom to play. They were the most perfect unit he'd ever had the pleasure of working with. They were more of a team, than mechs he ordered around. A team where each member worked towards a common goal – the goal of ensuring the safety of the sparkling Primes. Not realizing it, he nodded with a slight smile of satisfaction as their leader glanced his way.

His optics then drifted over to the medic. At first a slight frown drooped the edges of his lip components as he noticed the mech engaged in a romantic endeavor with their geologist. The thought that they should all be on guard whenever they were outside the protection of the hidden cave system crossed his meta, quickly replaced by the sudden realization that the atmosphere was indeed a rather romantic. The chill of the winter night air… The fact that this very temperature change had caused the organics to cease visiting the area for a time – giving the mechs free-reign to roam at night… They were free… Safe from prying eyes or optics for a time… Yes, if there was a night for romance – this would be it.

Shifting his optics, he glanced at the femme next to him. His meta also shifting onto other things. Perhaps it was the expression he'd seen on First Aid's bared face plate as Beechcomber gently took him… Perhaps it was the fact that the femme had been forcing him to warm up to her over this 'woo-ing period'… Whatever it was, he was now in the mood to 'woo' her. And his meta brought up a memory of something that Jazz had always loved. As much like Jazz as Frenzy was – he was sure she'd find it to her liking as well.

"Ugh mgfiiiiiixxxxing!!!!" Frenzy's surprised curse was swiftly cut off by a well placed hand over her lip components. She found herself face plate down on the rocky ground, her wrist servos handcuffed together, and a cop mech perched on top of her. Narrowing her optics, she considered if she should bite off a couple of his digits in payment for the prank.

"Shhh, you're under arrest Frenzy. You've been a very baaaaaaad femme," Prowl whispered in her audio. He shifted his weight a bit, so that he now straddled her rump. Noticing one of the Technobots glancing their way, he flashed a smile and nodded. The mech just shook his head and waved, turning his attention elsewhere in order to give the lovers some privacy for their 'game'. "I'll move my hand as long as you promise not to attempt to get out of your sentence," he purred in her audio.

Frenzy's engine began to purr as she realized that the mech was playing some type of interface game. Her optics gleamed in the darkness as she nodded her agreement to his terms. She'd never been taken advantage of like this – and it seemed like it could be quite exciting! Not to mention that the workaholic mech seemed to be finally interested in things like this. It could turn out to be a very interesting night indeed.

Sliding his hand from her mouth, he nipped at her back armor as he slipped his digits through seams in her silver armor, caressing wires and servos as he went. "You're charged with electrocution and false imprisonment of mechs – how do you plead?"

She snickered, since he was obviously referring to her mating techniques with both Ratchet and Optimus. "He, he, he, guilty and he, he, he, totally unremorseful." Her chassis trembled slightly as sensitive wires were stroked by knowledgeable digits. She'd hoped that he was worth the effort of pursuing – and he was proving so. Even Ironhide hadn't thought to trap her like this!

"Hmmm, unremorseful huh? You need more punishment than I'd originally considered." A smug grin actually crossed Prowl's face plate. His engine warming as he allowed the rare mood to fully engulf him. He wasn't normally into power trips like this, but Jazz had spent eons breaking through his self control. He'd finally taught him that unexpected actions such as this made a relationship stronger.

… The femme under him was so like Jazz in that respect. Her engine was revving in anticipation under his digits. Her silver chassis humming in eagerness… Prowl reveled in the warmth of her wires gliding under his light touch. The strength of her spark field growing in intensity.. Pulling on his spark almost as strongly as Jazz's had once done..

"He, he, he, I need a LOT of he, he, he punishment!" Frenzy encouraged with a giggle. She wiggled under her captor, excited beyond what she'd ever felt before. Steam began to rise in the cold winter air, bathing her heated armor in small droplets of condensation.

Sliding down her frame with the skill of a well-practiced maneuver, Prowl nipped as he went. His spark jumping wildly at her eager gasps. Gripping her hip plates, he forced her up on her knee servos as he teased her by slamming and grinding his pelvic armor against hers. "Criminal elements such as yourself never learn – do you?" he teased. Pulling her torso up, he cradled the trapped femme against him. His digits wandered, one servo going down and rubbing the hatch concealing her transfer; the other curling around her hood and unlatching the protective armor over her spark chamber. He nibbled on her exposed neck linkages as he teased her, enjoying the sound of her high performance engine as it revved in response to him.

Sliding open her receiver's panel, Frenzy gasped as she nodded in agreement. Jazz's memory banks had been sweet to sort through, but not half as sweet as living them again! As a digit slid inside her, she arched against the tactician, straining her neck linkages so that she could take his lip components. Flame raced through her sensory grids as he teased her interface circuits as well as her very spark! Light touches caressed the surface of her clear spark chamber, causing her very spark to pulse wildly.

They sank down to the snow covered ground. All thoughts of war and sparklings fleeing from their active processors as they became consumed with each other….

------

Bumblebee shivered as the waves of pleasure flew threw her sensory nets. Closing her optic shutters, she lived through Frenzy's spark. Felt the rapture as it overcame her bond mate… Her own systems shutting down in response…

Alarms shut off one-by-one within her meta. Rolling her helm the young femme began to fully reboot. Her systems reset by the shared experience…

"Your spark link is stronger than what's normally recommended," a familiar voice noted.

Face plate heating up even before her optics on-lined, Bumblebee nodded in agreement. As Ratchet's form came into focus, she considered if she should remind him of a thing known as 'privacy'. She was, after all, in HER room. And she was pretty sure that she'd closed the door before she'd linked with Frenzy.

Deciding that it was probably pointless to bring up that fact to the medic, she kept her thoughts to herself. Sitting up, she swung her peds over the side of the berth. "I don't care. I like feeling what she does," she replied.

Noting that the femme was now having no problems meeting his optics when she spoke of personal matters such as this, the old medic couldn't help but feel pleased with her progress. She was acting more-and-more like a mature femme every day cycle. "Although I can more than understand your position, it is my duty to remind you that this type of spark link might impede your future mating."

Primus, he was forever bringing THAT up! Rolling her optics, Bumblebee snorted in reply. "It doesn't bother Frenzy."

With a sigh, Ratchet sat down next to the small femme. For once, she didn't actually shift away from the contact. "She's a different type of femme than you. And First Aid is a more emotional mech than most."

Snickering inside since the old screw still believed her fake infatuation with the young medic, Bee managed to keep her mirth from showing on her face plate. She had to keep him convinced of her 'future mating plans.' It kept EVERY mech away from her! "First Aid will understand, he's into Beachy like that."

"Hmmm," Ratchet pondered, he hadn't considered that particular fact. Studying the young femme, he began to wonder how she would handle a relationship involving two mechs. Granted, Beachcomber was of a similar easy-going nature as First Aid, so it might work out that the young femme would mate them both. "Have you considered how your emotional state might turn if the mechs are more interested in each other – than you?"

This was too good! Ratchet was such a sucker. Bumblebee plastered a totally innocent expression on her face plate and looked up at him. "Well, I'm more into Frenzy than I'll ever be First Aid – so guess we'll just have to all deal with it, huh?"

She had a valid point. This made him pause and recall just why he'd come into her quarters in the first place. Her moans, whispered words, movements of her chassis, and the vacant look in her optics when he'd come in had made it obvious that she was in the midst of experiencing one of Frenzy's matings. Ratchet was now wondering which mech was 'blessed' with the encounter this time. He pitied the male. "Speaking of Frenzy, I assume from your earlier behavior that she's taken up with another mech?"

Leaning back, Bumblebee propped her doorwings against the solid wall behind her. She was more than happy to change the topic of discussion. "Yep. And this one tied HER up," she snickered.

Arching an optic ridge in surprise, Ratchet quickly went through the list of mechs that were in Frenzy's company. Three of them were swiftly marked off the list of possible mates. That still left quite a few, since he had no knowledge of the personalities of any of the Technobots. Perhaps one of them had found the freak to his liking? A scary thought that there might be another mech like Ironhide that he'd have to put up with. But what other type of mech would WILLINGLY mate the freaky femme? "A Technobot I assume?"

"Nope." Bumblebee grinned up at him, this game was becoming rather fun. She couldn't wait to see his expression when he found out about Prowl! "Wanna guess again?"

"Considering that I KNOW Wheeljack is not mating her, and the fact that Beachcomber and First Aid would be most put-out by her violent tendencies. Her mating options would only include the gestalt and -" His optics just about bugged out of his cranial unit as he identified the other possible mech. "Prowl."

Giggling, the yellow femme hopped down and skipped to the door. "Took you long enough to figure that out CMO!" The sounds of happy tip-taps regressed as she left.

"Hmmmm, so Prowl has found interest in her? Very interesting…" the medic mused to himself as he followed suit..

-----

_Note: FINALLY have my Hughes net back online! But work is a true bitch right now. So leave me some encouragement to wake up early/stay up late to continue this would ya?_


	4. Chapter 4

**Matter of Prime part 4**

"Well?" Prowl asked as he looked up from the topographical map. Arching an optic ridge at the young medic, he waited for the report.

"Uh, sorry Prowl, not yet." First Aid scratched at an imaginary bur in his hip armor as he tried to avoid the tactician's optics. He hated to tell mechs bad news, and it was becoming a rather regular pattern between himself and their mission leader. A pattern he wished that he knew a way to cease. After all, he was their medic. He should be able to advise them on mating and such. Granted, he'd never actually mated a femme himself. But he'd read enough on the topic hadn't he? The medic shifted his peds, his face plate heating up a bit as he thought about it. No, he couldn't give Prowl and Frenzy any advice on how to increase their chances at success in that department. Everyone knew that…

Scattershot grunted as he tapped the holographic map in order to change its focal point. "Probably better if she ain't, we're gonna have to move soon anyway." It wasn't that he was cold sparked about things like that; he was just plain tired of being stuck in this area. Had only been here for what seemed like a millennia you know. A mech's gotta move.. Gotta see new things to keep his meta fresh. And just maybe he'd be lucky and catch sight of a con or two along the way.

Straightening his doorwings as his standard 'poker face' covered all signs of his growing dismay, Prowl gave a curt nod to the Technobot leader. "A valid opinion indeed," he agreed. His tone not changing in the least little bit from his normal rather emotionless one. "Thankyou for the report First Aid."

The medic glanced from one to the other; honestly he was a little surprised that the mech who was trying to sire new sparklings didn't seem more emotional about the lack of 'progress' on that particular front. Then again, he'd never known the officer to show much emotion over anything. Well, other than exacerbation over being dragged away from work when Frenzy decided she wanted some – which happened frequently these day cycles. Watching the black and white mech getting dragged by a doorwing into the femme's quarters had caused quiet a few jokes to spread through the ranks, helping to keep the mood a little lighter.

As Prowl turned his back to him and went back to the map, First Aid realized he'd been basically dismissed. Yet, he didn't want to exactly leave just now. So he just stood there. "Yeah, uh, no problem sir." Leaning forward, he craned his neck servos a bit in order to get a better view of what they were looking at. It appeared to be an urbanized area. "Uh, mind me askin' 'bout what your planning?"

"Moving," was all the answer he got from the stoic tactician.

"Moving? Why? We're safe here." For First Aid, staying safe and out of sight of the Decepticons – and the conflict that always resulted if they crossed paths – was the most important thing they could do.

"We must." Prowl didn't even glance at him, his optics were scanning all the road routes in and out of the organics' urban area. His meta looking for parking garages and warehouses that could be used for safe defragging sights.

"Why?" The medic's question sounded more like a plea. He didn't want to leave this out-of-the-way rural area. Not for anything! It had been the first orbit cycles he'd lived in true peace!

"You said the youngling trine would molt prematurely. They need further training and experience before that time." Prowl glanced across the holomap at Scattershot.

"If they don't get the training, they will be too clumsy in their adult modes to be of much use," Scattershot agreed.

"I know I said that – but…" First Aid now wished those words had never left his vocal processor. Sure it was true. The richness of the natural energon and metal ions had caused the Earth-born sparklings to all grow and mature at a very unexpected and exponential rate. Heck, they had already molted once and scanned their initial alt modes. But they could just stay here and train in the valley when the fleshlings were chased off by the frozen precipitation. "Let's just stay here. Live in the cave system. Train in the night cycles. Come on, it's been great hasn't it?"

Prowl turned to him, his optics dark. "It has been a relaxing time. But they are Primes First Aid, they must be properly trained."

Scattershot nodded, his own optics gleaming with repressed battlelust. "Yes, they must be ready!"

Rolling his optics, the young medic threw up his hands in dismay. "Ready for what? To fight?!? To die for no reason?!? To face violence?!?" He looked from one to the other imploringly… Praying that one of them would see some reason…

"We are still at war First Aid. I understand how you feel, but…" Reaching out, Prowl touched the screen, causing the image to change to that of Megatron and his goons. "HE will never listen to such ideas."

"And HE is beginning to gather his forces again. He, he, he, the fool."

The three mechs turned around, all optics falling onto the silver femme.

"It is confirmed then?" Prowl asked her. In a strange way he was glad that he had Decepticons to worry about right now. It would keep his meta off his failure to her as a mate.

Frenzy-Jazz nodded, her half-crazed smile on her face plate. "He's started to call them in. He, he, he, Optimus shall not find many more to hunt down."

"Has your source informed you of their intentions?" Narrowing his optics, the tactician studied her as he asked. He still wasn't thrilled that she was connected to her old brethren like this, especially since she wouldn't divulge WHO her contact was. Not even to him – her mate!

Nodding, Frenzy walked forward and tapped on the holoimage, bringing up an image of the planet Earth. "Energon. And if he, he, he, the dunce Beachcomber figured it out so easily – then he, he, he, Scrapper will figure it out once the he, he, he knitwit Scavenger detects the radiation signature."

"And after they pinpoint the likeliest and richest reservoirs," Scattershot glanced over at Prowl.

"They'll find us," Prowl finished the thought. "How long do we have?"

Shrugging, the silver femme tapped on the screen. "Thirty rotations or less."

"Begin to store energon crystal. As much as each member can," Prowl ordered Scattershot. "We leave in two rotations."

--------

_Back at the main Autobot camp…_

_------_

Barricade paced back-and-forth muttering to herself under her breath. She'd been doing this for over a human hour now and it was becoming truly boring to the golden mech to continue to watch. "You gonna quit that now or what?" he snorted. In his arms, Blur shifted in defrag cycle. The little sparkling curled tightly against the warm armor of his father spark. As much as for protection, as for energy use reduction.

"We need energon," the femme grumbled. Her optics blazed, for she knew the risk that it might mean to the Prime trine if she went. One had not given her permission. In fact, he'd ordered her to stay away from Frenzy's location at all costs. Glancing at her weakening sparkling, her maternal instinct was screaming at her to disobey him!

"Like that something we don't already know sheesh!" Sunstreaker rolled his optics. They'd been through this same argument again and again. The femme just needed to come off her information. She KNEW where there was energon!

Going back to her pacing, the cruiser began to grumble under her breath again. Her loyalties split…

----

"Cade?" Bumblebee walked up to the cruiser and tapped her on a doorwing.

"Yes," she spat. It wasn't that she was mad at the young femme, she was simply mad at the universe right now. Her sparkling needed sustenance that she couldn't provide – without endangering the very future of their species!

Taken aback by the other femme's nasty tone, Bumblebee stepped back a step. "Yeah, well, uh, here." She tossed her the glowing crystal that she had been carrying.

Barricade's optics went wide in surprise as she instinctively caught it. Electromagnetic radiation tingled her sensory nets as the warmth from the living crystal crept up her arm. It was an energon crystal! Raw energon! Just what the sparklings needed. "Where did you get this?" she demanded to know.

"Funny thing happened while I was watching the sunset," Bumblebee began.

"Self-interfacing I'm sure," the mature femme smirked.

Since her, ahem, self appreciative tendencies were becoming fairly well-known Bumblebee shrugged off the implied insult. She'd rather self-interface while claiming to be fantasizing about First Aid – than to actually be doing it. So frankly, she didn't care what the others thought anymore. "Yeah, your freagin' birdie friend interrupted me. Why don't you tell her to respect a femme's privacy next time you see her."

So Laserbeak had been sent with the crystal? Interesting…. One had not informed her of this delivery. Something was going on. Barricade could sense it! Glancing down at the glowing crystal, Barricade decided she'd wait until another time to investigate though. She had more pressing matters to attend to. "You are a brat Bumblebee."

The yellow femme simply shrugged and shot her a grin.

"I assume that you have more crystals in your subspace." Barricade tossed the crystal in her subspace as she spoke, freeing her hands for other things.

"Course I do. Think I'm gonna carry them around in plain sight?" Bee snickered in amusement at the thought. Sure, she'd been surprised when she'd been so close to overload – only to glance up and see red optics watching her. She'd almost shot the youngling femme when her battle processor had automatically clicked on. Only the fact that there was a pile of glowing crystals at the bird's peds stopped her. She'd just forget that Laserbeak was also snickering at her too…. Decepticon youngling femmes were so freagin' annoying!

Rolling her optics, the cruiser nodded for her to follow her back to camp. They walked for a couple minutes without a word between them. Until finally, Barricade knew she needed to say what must be said.

"You may have the mechs blinded by your little act. You aren't fooling us femmes," she growled warningly under her breath.

"What act?" The innocent act was perfect. Down to the slightly upturned lip components and curious optic ridges.

Stopping suddenly, Barricade caused the young femme to walk into her. "You play a dangerous game with them little Bee, pretending to be infatuated with one of them." Her optics locked with Bee's, telling her in no uncertain terms of what she was discussing.

"Aww, First Aid won't care. He's in love with Beachy. Won't even want little ol' me." The young femme lifted her chin, daring the cruiser to contradict her.

"You foolish youngling!" Pushing her roughly, the cruiser knocked her to the ground. Dropping to her knee servos, she pinned the youngster underneath her. "You do NOT play mechs like that! It will backfire on you!"

Pushing up on the other femme, Bee snarled as she realized she was truly trapped. How'd she let the femme do that to her so quickly? She'd never have gotten the upper hand during a real fight. Maybe that's what went wrong? Bee had let her guard down around Barricade. "Let me up you bitch!" she growled.

Leaning down, Barricade nipped at her neck servos. "That's what they'll do to you little Bee. They'll hold you down and force you to take his transfer."

"No… NO they won't! Let me up!" Bumblebee struggled under the black and white femme, her battle processor coming fully on.

Sliding down her frame, the cruiser kept her pinned as she ground their pelvic armor together. "What are you going to say? 'oh no, don't take me First Aid'? You think they'll believe that after all the foolishness you've spouted. I think not!" She pressed harder against the yellow femme. "You're lining yourself up Bee. You WILL be forced!" she whispered those words harshly into the younger one's audio.

"No… no they won't!" Bee's voice became hoarse with disbelief. She could almost feel a transfer sliding into her now. The old fear coming back to her - Breaking through her cocky confidence from her fake infatuation act. Surely 'Cade was wrong. Frenzy wouldn't share her. She said she wouldn't!

"Frenzy can't stop them. After all your claims of lust to anyone who'd listen – who'd believe you when you claimed to not want him now? Frenzy might think she has power. But nothing stops a mech from taking a 'willing' femme." Barricade's voice became lower, almost that of the mech voice she once used. She began to thrust her hips violently against Bee's. "Can't you feel his transfer inside you, youngling? That's what you've been claiming to want!"

"I…. I…." The words wouldn't come. Terror filled Bee. Filled her as thoroughly as the tears were now filling her optics…. Barricade was right. Through her little act she'd now convinced all the mechs that she was WILLING to mate. What had she done?!?

"You what….." Barricade's growl was interrupted rather rudely.

"Well, well, well, what have we got here?" Sideswipe grinned at his twin's femme mate. He'd come across them as he'd been headed towards his own favorite spot of seclusion. To say the least, seeing Barricade apparently humping Bumblebee was titillating if not down right arousing! He licked his lip components with his glossa as he glanced around. He'd hate for anyone else to come along and possibly ruin the show.

Bumblebee's face heated up so hot, that steam rose in the cool mountain air. She could feel his optics raking her frame in lust. "Uh…. Nothing…." she lied.

"Doesn't look like 'nothing' to me." Sideswipe grinned as he hopped up and set his tail pipes down on a rocky outcrop, his intention to sit there and watch - quite obvious. "Go ahead ladies, don't let me interrupt." Activating his transfer, he squirted some lube in his hand. Why bother using one's imagination when a mech's got two femmes going at it to watch?

"Nothing? Am I 'nothing' Bumblebee. Are other's 'nothing' too?" Barricade snickered in a low tone. Her lips so close to Bee's audios that they flicked along her protective armor, causing a shudder to go through the youngster. The cruiser's meaning was obvious now. The young femme would have to find a way out of this now – just as she'd have to find a way out of mating First Aid when the time came.

"Well, uh, no…" Bee tried to think of what to do, what to say. She'd screwed everything up with her schemes! Everything! She hadn't thought of what would actually happen when they came across First Aid and the others.

"Come on ladies," Sideswipe urged from his perch. His hand moved in slow regular strokes as he anticipated a good show. "Why don't you show her how you use that medical probe?" he snickered. Primus knew Barricade had used it enough on him at Sunstreaker's urging. It'd be nice seeing it slide in the young femme…

"AGHHHHH!" Panic added strength to Bumblebee's actions. With a great upward thrust of every limb she had – Barricade went flying. In blind terror, the yellow femme transformed and roared out in a cascade of thrown up gravel and dust, pelting the two others as she disappeared.

Yelping as some of the rock chips pegged his activated transfer; Sideswipe yelped and fell over backwards. The crash of armor against rock echoed through the mountains as he tumbled, swiftly followed by muttered curses concerning femmes.

Red optics followed the course of the disappearing yellow camaro. Calmly, the mature femme stood up. Dusting her armor off, she marched over to her mate's twin and kicked him as hard as she could – several times.

"OUCH!!! AKKKK! QUIT!!!" Between the sting in his retracting cable and now in his helm and side armor, the red-shouldered mech didn't even think to fight back. Curling up into a ball, he tried to protect his most valued region before the vicious femme could land a kick there too.

Landing one final kick as hard as she could, Barricade snarled "THAT'S for interrupting us – you idiotic mech!" With that, she stomped off as well.

Slowly uncurling his frame, Sideswipe carefully scanned the area around him to make sure that the pair were indeed – gone. "Geese, they could've just told me to take a hike," he mumbled to himself as he rubbed at the stinging areas. He stood on unsteady peds, trying to get his bearings, before stumbling off towards camp. The only good luck he hoped for now – was to NOT see Ratchet any time soon. The last thing he wanted now was a ratchet to his helm….

------

"I'm locked! Eat my s**&^%_^(&!?" Ironhide's exclamation of what the Decepticon youngling was fixing to do – was rudely cutoff in midsentence, replaced by a mouthful of dirt as Prime threw him to the ground. Spitting it out, he tried to stand again – only to be knocked down again.

"She's a femme!" Optimus growled in a warning tone under his breath. Only in true battle should they ever fire on one of them now that they knew what they were. And even then – the Autobot mechs should never try to truly hurt one of them! These youngling femmes had to be protected, no matter the cost.

Flitting around the massive mech, Lazerbeak snickered as she watched the black weapons Master eating dirt again. Simply to egg him on some more, she stung his exposed tail pipes with a little laser fire.

"AKK!!! YOU GONNA LET HER DO THAT TO ME ARE YOU?!?" Rolling rapidly, the black mech sprung back onto his peds. Glaring at the youngling Decepticon who was peaking over Prime's shoulder armor, Ironhide briefly considered what kind of hell he'd get himself into if he just happened to pop the perfect shot right over that armor and into her laughing beak. Like always, his consideration of repercussions didn't last long – and he let off the shot.

Optics wide in surprise at his soldier's actions, Optimus spun, grabbed the femme and hit the ground hard, managing to both avoid being hit and protecting her at the same time. Granted, he hadn't considered the loose shale nor the slope they were standing upon – thus his rolling maneuver ending up catching him in a small avalanche. Autobot and Decepticon went tumbling down the mountainside together, much to the disbelief of Ironhide.

"Awe crap! Ratchet's gonna have my helm for sure!" the black mech grumbled. Transforming, he shifted it into 4-low and headed down the slope after Optimus, hoping that the big mech wasn't terribly banged up.

Finally stopping, Optimus grunted as he ran through a swift self-diagnostic scan. Banged up – but fully functional… Sitting up, he looked down, meeting the unblinking optics of the youngling femme who was protected in his arms. She didn't look damaged in the least. In fact, he swore she had an amused grin on her beak. "You femmes will be the demise of us," he muttered to her.

Cocking her head, Lazerbeak snickered as she waited for him to set her free. Though the One had not authorized her to do anything more than deliver the energon to them – she couldn't resist picking on Ironhide and causing some chaos. It wasn't as if she'd ever feared Autobot mechs in the first place, and now that she KNEW they would avoid hurting her at all cost – it made it that much more amusing.

"I'll assume you're agreeing with me." Optimus glanced up as his weapons specialist transformed and hovered over him. "We're fine," he snapped. He'd deal with Ironhide later on the matter of his impetuousness.

"I was more worried 'bout you – than her," Ironhide snorted. Holding out his hand, he helped Optimus to his peds. "Why's she here anyway? Just to cause problems – or to join us?"

As his arms loosened their grip, Lazerbeak slipped out and hovered briefly next to them – before taking a perch right on top of Ironhide's helm. Reaching into her subspace, she pulled the last energon crystal out. "Frenzy is now on the move. Megatron is soon to discover both the energon source and the trine's existence." Hopping up to avoid Ironhide's sweeping hands, she settled back down on his helm and met Optimus's blue orbs.

Staring down at the crystal pulsing in his hands, the big mech understood the ramifications. His sons were still younglings, still relatively small and vulnerable. For Frenzy and Prowl to bring them out of cover meant that there was no other option. Obviously, One was informing him of this in order for the main Autobot force to begin to press the Decepticons – in order to keep Megatron's focus on Optimus and off of searching for the trine.

Lazerbeak nodded, "install the chip," she said – before flitting off and disappearing into the clouds.

"God-damned bird femme!" Ironhide grumbled as he felt a wet spot on his helm. The youngling had dared to leave oil on him! He didn't care that she was a she. She was going to feel some retribution next time they met!

Glad that the bird's final insult had kept his comrade from listening to her final message, Optimus turned and began to climb up the steep slope. He knew One was reaching out to him again in order to possibly synchronize their actions – but giving another such potential control over him was a great decision. A decision he didn't know if he was ready to make…..

-----

_Note: Sorry it's taken so long. If it ain't 60 hour work weeks – it's severe carpal tunnel. I just can't seem to get a break this winter! Please leave some reviews – it brightens my day…_


	5. Chapter 5

Matter of Prime, part 5

"This is so cooooollll!" HotRod yelled as he rolled down the steep road as fast as his tires could spin. The impetuous youngster was more like his mother in energy, and now that they were no longer going to be trapped in the cave system – he was having a blast.

Much to the dismay of the drone hanging onto him that is… Grimlock swallowed hard as his digit-tips dug into the orange armor beneath him. Yeah, he was brave and all. At least that's what his Technobot mentors kept telling him. But that was when his peds were on solid ground and he could depend on his strength. Unlike right now, when he was totally out of his element! "Me Grimlock say slow down!"

"Awwwww come on Grimlock! Speed is fun!" His engine strained under the pressure of both speed and carrying the heavy drone, yet the youngling Prime didn't care. He was having fun!

"Arrrrrrkkkkk, Arrrrrrrkkkkk, Swoop say go faster!" the flighted Dinobot drone banked left, following the road and his friends from above.

"Hold on!" Getting traction, HotRod burned rubber. Grimlock barely staying on…

Behind them, the other mechs followed, and one was not happy in the least by HotRod's antics. In fact, he decided they must stop immediately..

"Slag! Why does he always have to ruin the fun?" the orange clad youngster griped as blue lights flashed in his rear view mirrors.

"Grimlock say he right – right now," the drone finally let out a sigh of relief as he felt their speed lessen. Going fast meant you had to think fast, and that was something he'd never been that good at.

Sliding around the youngling Prime, no easy task on the narrow winding roads of the park, Prowl put himself in the lead. "You will NOT drive out front, that's an order!" he barked.

"Yeah, yeah, take the fun right out of the adventure," HotRod muttered under his breath. He knew better than to disobey Prowl when he said it was 'an order'. The few times he'd disobeyed, he'd ended up flat on his face plate with his hands cuffed behind him. Even claiming to be a Prime hadn't restrained the tactician's hand from stinging his tailpipes mercilessly. True, Prowl wasn't his father spark. But he acted like he was. And from what he'd overheard, Optimus would've supported every single spanking he'd received.

So the youth followed his adopted sire through the maze of roads. His dental plates clamped down upon his glossa. For a time he remained ticked off, but like always his anger didn't last. And soon, he was conversing with his two favorite drones about the terrain whizzing by.

The others soon caught up to them, HotRod's brothers falling in directly behind them. "Get a spanking this time?" Sentinel snickered. He was the type of youngling who loved to egg on the others. Arrogant and slightly narcissistic, he shared the most personality traits with his Decepticon mother spark. He barely tolerated organics and insults flowed freely from his lip components. If he weren't a youngling Prime, he'd have made a half-way decent Con.

"Doubt it, he's finally learning to obey Prowl," Ultra Magnus shot back. The blue pickup chuckled, shaking the drone who was riding in his bed.

"Stop that, me havin 'nough problem with little bed!" Sludge growled. His optics narrowed as his peds slipped a bit.

"No have roll bars, Snarl say you need roll bars," the drone that Sentinel carried replied through clenched dentals. It would've been easier to actually use the youngster's roll bar if he was in bot mode, but the adults had ordered them to remain in alt mode. So here he was, denting up his dentals in order to use them in hanging on to the roll bar.

"Why you not have roll bar!" Sludge snarled to Ultra Magnus.

The youngling Prime sighed and rolled his hidden optics. "When you scan your first alt – you're not exactly thinking about specifics."

"Grrrrrrr, you Prime – you should!" the drone muttered as he scrambled a bit to keep his peds under him as they went around a curve.

Yeah, guess so. Ultra Magnus thought to himself. It was pointless to argue though; the drones never truly understood any indepth topic. Shifting gears, he passed his orange brother and fell in behind Prowl. He idolized his adoptive father spark. The mech was patient, intelligent, strategic… Everything Ultra Magnus dreamed of being!

The mature mech smiled on his hidden face plate as the blue youngling fell into his customary position. Of all the youngling Primes, Ultra Magnus was his favorite. He reminded him so much of Optimus. How the other two had come across such extreme temperaments – he had no clue. Sometime he felt like he'd lose his self control and just spank the hell out of the other two - between HotRod's wild thoughtlessness and Sentinel's arrogance. But Ultra Magnus…. Dear sweet Magnus… This youngling kept him sane! He never complained, never competed. He simply gave everything his best effort. He would become a hell of a leader one orbit cycle!

"Stop!" Frenzy's voice over their comlinks caused them all to lock up their tires. She rarely said anything without her customary giggling – so when she did, it was dead serious! "Off the road, into the woods!"

They all did as ordered without question. Frenzy transformed, her optics telling the others to stay in alt mode and behind the cover of the trees. She pressed her armor against one of the giant evergreens, her communications lines open to Decepticon frequencies, which she passed on to them so they would understand what was happening.

Jet engines roared over them, the Seekers not looking for them – nor spotting the hidden mechs by accident.

"/Have you found the energon source yet?/" Megatron's radioed voice barked within the hidden troupe's audios.

Prowl stiffened, transforming out of alt mode, he slid up next to another giant tree. His optics burned as he pulled out his weapon. Frenzy had been right, if they'd stayed – they would've been trapped! His optics met hers, both of them knowing full well just how exposed they were right now.

The sound of many mechs approached from the roadway, coming towards them. They would've driven straight into the danger had Frenzy not stopped them. The troupe held their collective breath as the horde slowly passed without so much as a glance at the thick woods which hid them.

"/No, mighty Megatron, we are getting close/" Starscream's whiny voice replied over the radio.

Frenzy tensed, her meta going wild at the proximity of the one she most despised. She would've gone full berserk had Prowl not grabbed her arm and shook her ever so slightly. He put a digit to his lip components and shook his helm. Growling under her breath, she slowed her engine's racing. Now was not the time for revenge. Her offspring were too young. But one day….. Her optics danced over her two daughters, her three sons…. One day they would help her dance on Starscream's ripped apart chassis!

"/Find it you lazy piece of useless slag!/" Megatron bellowed over the radio.

Once again, Prowl found himself wondering just why the Decepticons kept following such a leader. He'd always known the tyrant verbally and physically abused his followers, but now that he could actually hear the internal conversation of the Cons… One word - 'damn'…..

The trees above them shuddered as more low-flying Decepticons whizzed past. All headed straight towards the Granite dome that had been their safe haven for so long.

"/Once they find the caves, they will know mechs had been living there/" Prowl whispered over their private comlink.

Frenzy nodded, her face plate breaking into her standard half-crazed grin as the roll of thunder covered up the Decepticon thrusters for a moment. "/The storm will slow their search./"

"/It will also cover our retreat/" For once, Prowl thanked this planet's tendency towards violent electrical storms. It would impact fliers far more than them. Their rubber tires insulated their circuitry, allowing them to function in alt mode during the lightning.

The last of the Decepticons moved past their hiding place, right as the first wave of rain hit.

"/All flyers, transform to bot mode and hang on to us!/" Scattershot ordered. All the flyers, and slower moving ground mechs, grabbed onto the top of the nearest alt mode ground mech, wrapping their digits around doorframes, they held on for dear life.

Engines gunning, Frenzy took the lead as she peeled out back on the road. Strafe hanging onto her, his weapon drawn as his optics scanned the stormy skies for danger. Prowl brought up the rear, Scattershot riding on top - Afterburner at his side. The other mechs placed themselves amongst the youngsters. All optics and audios scanning for danger….

They flew down the road, barely managing not to hydroplane in the intense downpours. There was no discussion as they fled. The adult mechs only concerned with one thing – protecting the young. Darkness consumed them as the storms drifted East and the planet's sun went below the horizon. Yet still they pressed on. Pushing the youngsters to the limits of their endurance….

Back at the Autobot base…

Optimus frowned as he stared across the deep valley below them. His sons were out there, exposed to attack, and he was powerless to help them. This sensation of total helplessness was alien to him. He'd always been the protector; the one other's looked to. But now…. Now he had to depend on the stealth skills of a femme he really didn't even like and the tactical meta of a mech he hadn't seen in forever. Grinding his dentals together, he fought the rising frustration that was building within his circuits…

"Frustrating isn't it?" Ratchet asked. Without asking, he sat down next to his old friend. His green armor crunched down on the loose rocks, but he paid it no heed. His optics held the same haunting look as he too looked out over the landscape.

"Yes," Prime agreed. Ratchet knew how he felt. The science officer had dealt with the same internal torment since his daughters were also out there - somewhere…..

"We can trust Prowl to keep them safe." The green mech said that as much for his sake – as Prime's sake. He had to believe that. It would drive him to glitches if he didn't.

Glancing at his friend, Prime nodded. It wasn't exactly the same situation for him. Ratchet had at least known his daughters – Prime? Prime didn't even know what his sons' designations were. Much less anything about them! He felt – empty…. His sad sigh told Ratchet as much.

Turning his optics to the mech, Ratchet saw his torment. His stern look changed to one of sympathy and he laid a comforting hand on his leader's shoulder plate. "You have to accept it Prime, I've accepted it."

"At least your offspring know you." Prime's voice held no accusations, he was just stating fact. A fact that was tearing him as a father – apart… He'd always wanted to be a father. Not for the sole purpose of caring on his spark line, but because he loved younglings. He wanted to raise younglings! Now he had them – but was not given the one thing he'd always wanted, to BE a father.

Shaking his helm, the green mech couldn't deny the difference. "I'm sorry Optimus. But Frenzy is right in keeping them hidden. Keeping them from Megatron's knowledge."

"I know…" Prime turned his optics back to the mountains. He listened to the green mech as he stood up and walked away. "Primus – I know…" he whispered, his digits drifting towards the storage compartment. Towards a small chip that might give him what he needed…

Pulling the chip out, he stared down at it. His meta raked with conflicting emotions. If he and One could communicate directly, they might join forces. Two Primes working together should be able to protect the youngling Primes. They were One's grandsparklings – were they not? Surely the mech would be willing. Then again, One was a Decepticon. He'd stayed hidden even when Optimus had been slaughtered. He'd not raised a digit in defending the race against the Fallen. Could a Prime like him be trusted?

Optimus's spark was being torn apart! First, to know what his mate had gone through and he had not helped her. Second, to know his offspring were out there somewhere. If something happened to them – could he still continue functioning knowing that he had been given the opportunity to work with their grandfather in order to protect them?

Knowing he had to do it – yet hating himself at the same time. Optimus opened his chest access panel. "Primus, forgive me if I'm making a mistake," he whispered as he inserted the chip into one of his mainframes…..

….. Falling…. Falling….. Optimus flailed his arms, trying to grab onto something, anything in order to break his fall… Nothing…. Nothing but empty mist met his digit-tips… Feeling his speed increasing, the powerful mech tried to pull out his weapon. If nothing else, he'd land hard and maybe still be able to protect himself.

Right as his hand touched his gun, he hit the ground hard. Grunting in pain, he rolled for a distance, his optics trying to focus. With agonizing slowness, the world stopped spinning around him. Focusing on his strange surroundings, Optimus tried to get his bearings. He was lying on what appeared to be a digital grid. Something he'd seen in the human movie 'Tron' – some orbit cycles ago.

Gritting his dentals together, he commanded his servos to move. Squeals of disagreement filled the space around him as he slowly sat up. His balance was off, his programs slightly fragged, but he forced himself to stand. Swaying on unsteady peds, he scanned around, his weapon ready… "One? I have come One," he announced to the emptiness.

A low roar, like the slow intake and outflow of a mech breath answered him. Ominous, it increased in volume, causing Optimus to slowly turn – his battle processor fully activated.

"Installation of link chip – confirmed," a low voice finally spoke. A voice that was easily recognizable to any Autobot. A voice who had forwarded orders that had caused so many deaths.

Optimus lowered his weapon as a shape appeared. His weapon was useless against this mech. He'd made the mistake of letting him into his processor. There was no fighting him – once he controlled you. How had he been so foolish? "Soundwave," he stated, his optics narrowed as he realized just how dangerous a predicament he was now in.

Coming closer, the red glow of the hidden Prime's optics met his. "Stating the obvious – inefficient," he replied.

This mech was not one to beat around the servo. Optimus made a point to put his weapon away. After all, Soundwave had sought HIM out. But why? This mech was in the hierarchy of the Con ranks. He was beyond suspicion, beyond detection.. Putting his own needs aside, Optimus knew that he could show no weakness to this powerful – yet until now, unknown – Prime. "You requested this communication. What is your motivation?"

Soundwave came closer, now the mech towered over the other Prime. Reaching out with his tentacles, he brushed them along Optimus's armored plates, testing the mech. "Motivation – the continuation of our species."

Resisting the urge to bat away the probing tentacles, Optimus refused to even let his chassis shudder in revulsion. How many Autobots had this mech linked with? Tortured into submission and divulged their secrets? His tentacles could ensnare the strongest of mechs, linking into their external networks and rendering them completely helpless. Optimus could feel them now, sliding under his armor, slipping teasingly over his circuits. "As is mine. But it is the war we must stop. The war which has destroyed us!"

The Decepticon showed no emotion. "War – of no concern; Femme protection – top priority." More of his tentacles slid under Optimus's armor…

The mech had now linked to his motor networks. Optimus knew without a doubt that he was totally helpless now. Granted, he'd accepted that risk when he'd inserted the chip. "I cannot agree with you concerning war; I can agree with you concerning the value of our femmes." He had to find a middle ground with this mech. Had to find a base on which to build a working relationship… Now that he knew who One was – he knew that One had the ability to help to end this war. He'd just have to be patient and eventually turn Soundwave to their side. It would take time – and sacrifice…

"Co-operation," Soundwave paused for a moment, the semi-telepath reading his fellow Prime, "necessary."

Necessary? That meant that Soundwave needed HIM – as much as the femmes needed Soundwave. Optimus shifted his peds a bit, getting a little uncomfortable as the multitudes of tentacles were now exploring every part of him – including his interface systems. But he dared not pull away. He needed Soundwave. "We must co-ordinate our efforts in their protection."

"Affirmative," Soundwave's voice was low, gravely.. His optics gleamed as he tested Optimus's dedication to the cause. He knew the mech was highly conservative when it came to his interface systems, to the point of being nearly inactive in that aspect. In fact, he'd actually been surprised that the mech had mated with his daughter so successfully. He'd started wondering if Optimus was even capable of the act.

"What do you want from me – that I haven't already given?" Optimus narrowed his optics, studying Soundwave. If he hadn't already known about the mech's involvement with Chromia – he'd have thought him as inactive and disinterested as himself when it came to interface. Yet now, tentacles were going under his protective armor, probing his port, sliding along his retracted transfer. Soundwave's reputation was of total lack of emotion. Of a mech who had raped Autobots merely because he was following orders.

"Access to your spark memories," he replied.

A spear of cold fear washed through Optimus. It all made sense now. When a mech overloaded, his firewalls completely disengaged. All of his deepest memories, wants, plans, desires – were available to a master hacker. Soundwave would know all of the Autobots deepest secrets. What would he do with them? Optimus couldn't hope to stop him now, he was helpless, he'd been suckered…. Or had he? Could he demand something equally from the Con in order to agree not to fight the interface? "I demand access to yours – in fair trade."

Soundwave stopped his exploration at those words. Cocking his helm, the tiniest emotion of surprise glanced over his face plate before swiftly dissolving into emotionlessness again. He considered the offer. An even trade; access for access. Something only spark mates ever agreed to. And Autobot sparkmates at that!

"We both work for the same ultimate goal – just in different ways. It is a trade that will benefit both parties," Optimus explained. He hoped the mech would take the offer. Being raped for the information in his meta and chassis would not be a pleasant experience. "You know I will only use the information I claim – to stop the Decepticons. I will not use it to annihilate them – as long as you agree not to give the information you get from me, to Megatron."

"Autobots would be annihilated," Soundwave agreed.

"Which would not be in the best interests of your femmes." Optimus was close to sealing the deal, he could feel it.

"Affirmative – species preservation is better served in Autobot camp." The mech moved closer, his chassis now so close that his spark field caressed Optimus's. He was not exactly into interfacing either, but it was a means to an end.

Words were not necessary… Intimacy between mechs that went far beyond what each had ever allowed before… Control weakened over thoughts… History shared as pleasure rocketed through networks… Loneliness understood – driven away as mutual need overcame inhibition….. Beautiful, unadulterated truth… As true as the slide of transfer into port…. As true as the dance of glossas during a forbidden moment….

Optimus gasped as he rebooted, his meta processor still linked to Soundwave's through the data cable connecting them. Looking up at the bigger mech, he frowned a little at the thought that he had submitted willingly to him. Willingly and fully…. A scenario that he would never admit to for the rest of his existence...

A growl emanated from Soundwave's vocals as his optics fired back to life. With a whine of his hydraulics, he deactivated his transfer, his face plate once again emotionless as it retracted from the warm tightness of his fellow Prime. "Carnal Knowledge – classified," he whispered.

Nodding his agreement, Optimus began to unplug the data link cables as Soundwave unwound himself from him. His sense of loss and loneliness seemed puny compared to the memories that punished Soundwave. Memories that he was now privy to…. He stopped the Decepticon from pulling away with a hand on his arm. He now knew how deep Soundwave's emotions truly went. And though the mech seemed devoid of emotion – Prime knew the truth. Knew the pain… The pain that went with being a Prime forever hidden through no choice of his own…

Searching Soundwave's ruby orbs, Optimus looked for that slightest of glimmers. He now knew what to look for. Now knew that he could trust the mech to work towards the advancement of their species – even if he'd never end the war. "I know you trusted once – I want you to trust again."

The Decepticon knew what he was referring to. Knew exactly what he was offering… Once, both of them had tried to keep femmes as spark mates. But the curse of being Primes had taken that from them. Their choices were limited because of the power they both held. Responsibilities and duty outweighed any chance of interpersonal relationships that close. Or did it? They understood each other fully now. Empathized with the intense internal loneliness and guilt….. But could he trust an Autobot Prime not to tear his spark in half – as the femme had once done so long ago? Optimus knew why he was trapped in the Decepticon ranks. He had no choice but to stay. It was his destiny… "Complication factor – magnified exponentially."

Rubbing Soundwave's neck linkages, Optimus nodded. "Agreed, but is the alternative any better? We will be stronger if we stand together." True, he'd never in a million cycles felt attraction towards another mech. It wasn't a physical attraction that pulled him towards this hidden Prime – it was a mental and emotional need.

Studying the mech beneath him, Soundwave flicked his tentacles along his armor. Optimus did have a point. They were both older mechs, with histories that no others would understand. They'd both already reproduced their sparks with femmes, so that was not an issue either. But what if they agreed to this arrangement, only to have a femme approach one or the other? "Alternative: Intolerable," Soundwave sighed. Now that the emotional burden had been lifted for that brief moment he'd been one with Optimus, he did not wish to experience it alone again. "Reproduction agreement?"

So, the mech wanted to lay everything out first? He could respect him for that. "Agreed, if a femme desires either of our … services… it is consensual." The way he'd put it sounded like something Ratchet would say. But that's just how Optimus felt about it now. No femme would ever take the place of his dear Elita. He just couldn't bear to share himself like that with one again. Mating for the sole purpose of reproduction? Well, he'd done Frenzy hadn't he? Surely he could 'do' another femme - if she so desired.

"Initiate Spark mate agreement," Soundwave said. Sitting up, he held out a hand.

Well, he had a cold exterior and wasn't the best to look at – yet Optimus felt an emotional bond with him already. He now knew that the hidden Prime would never use this agreement against him. Would never betray him to Decepticons nor Autobots… This was the most unlikely of pairings – but it felt 'right'. Curling his digits around Soundwave's he sat up. "Initiated," he agreed.

With efficiency that would make even Prowl green with envy, the Communications Officer flipped open both of their spark access panels. They hugged each other as their spark fields merged… Fully fusing….

The adult Primes….. Two made into one….

Optimus felt a sting across his face plate again. His optics flickered as he came back online in his chassis.

"Re-activate you damned fool!" Ratchet snarled as he slapped him again.

His engine hummed loudly as he finally re-aligned his motor networks to respond. Before the ornery medic could slap him again, he intercepted him with a hand. "That's enough Ratchet, I'm activated."

The green mech glared at him a bit, then pointed at Prime's chest. "Explain that!"

Looking down as he sat up, Optimus realized that he'd left his main frame access panel open. The sharp-optic'd science officer had easily spotted the new chip. Probably even tried to remove it – which was now impossible without off-lining him. "I needed answers."

Ratchet hit him upside his helm with one of his screwdrivers with such swiftness that Optimus wondered just how in the universe he hadn't seen the tool. "Of all the stupid, idiotic, things you've done Prime!" He stood up, giving the big mech another rap upside the helm for good measure. "I hope you found your answers – and they were worth the price we'll all pay!"

Standing up, Optimus backed up, getting out of range before a third strike could be leveled at his helm. Ratchet had surely figured out the potential control that some other mech could have over his chassis through the chip. That couldn't be helped though. He had had to do it. "I found answers – and they are worth the risk."

_Note: Ok, done with this one. I did leave off the interface scene. I'll be writing the xxx version of it tonight and posting it on my AFF account if any of you wish to read it. Just look for 'Matter of Prime xxx' there. It'll be too hot for FF. _

_Please leave reviews. When my CTS allows it – I will write again…_


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